The Taliban announced Thursday (September 9th) that they were "
ready
" to start peace talks with the Afghan government on Saturday, which had been delayed for more than six months, in an attempt to put an end to nearly 19 years of conflict.
“
In accordance with the agreement signed (with) the United States, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name given to the insurgents) declares that it is ready to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the inter-Afghan negotiations to be held in Qatar (. ..) September 12, 2020
”, ie Saturday, they said in a statement.
Read also: Afghanistan: Taliban prisoners almost fully released
The insurgents "
intend to advance the negotiation process in an appropriate manner and bring about comprehensive peace and a pure Islamic system within the framework of (their) Islamic values and (their) higher national interests
," said they added.
The Afghan presidency, on Twitter, confirmed the departure for Qatar of its 21 negotiators on Friday.
The head of the reconciliation council, the former chief executive and the unsuccessful candidate for the last presidential election Abdullah Abdullah, will notably represent the Afghan government at the inaugural ceremony, she said.
Two Taliban and government sources told AFP on Thursday that the talks could start on Saturday. "
We were asked to be ready to leave for Doha tomorrow (Friday),
" said Hafiz Mansour, one of the 21 negotiators of Kabul.
“
But we've been told this many times already.
I hope it's serious this time
, ”he had hoped.
"
The last major problem, which was the transfer of six Taliban, is resolved, while they are transferred at the time it is in Doha,
" said the government source.
The negotiations postponed many times
A special plane left Kabul for Doha on Thursday evening with the six prisoners on board, two Taliban sources told AFP.
Several countries, including Australia and France, oppose the release of these detainees, guilty of killing their nationals in Afghanistan.
One of them is an ex-Afghan soldier accused of killing five French soldiers and injuring 13 others in 2012. Another, also a former soldier, killed three Australian soldiers.
The two assassins of Bettina Goislard, a French UN employee killed in 2003, for their part "
were released today (Thursday) in Wardak province
", near Kabul, said two Taliban sources.
Information not confirmed by the authorities.
Scheduled for March, the unprecedented peace talks between the two camps have been postponed regularly due to persistent disagreements over a prisoner exchange: some 5,000 Taliban against a thousand members of the Afghan forces.
This provision, enshrined in an American-Taliban agreement signed in February in Qatar, which confirms the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan by mid-2021, from the outset aroused hostility from Kabul, which did not sign the text.
The Afghan authorities were particularly reluctant to release the last 400 insurgents, accused or convicted of serious crimes, which they finally released last week, with the exception of a handful of detainees, some of whom are on their way to the Qatar.