MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar confirmed on Thursday that the Afghan government had made a power-sharing offer to the Taliban militant group (outlawed in Russia).
"Such an offer [by the government of Afghanistan on power-sharing with the Taliban] was made and it was announced by our delegation as part of a general discussion of the issue. This offer consists of three parts or three phases. The first phase is a ceasefire and the second relates to reaching agreements. The third phase is some transitional period to establish shared power," he said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station, a fragment of which was posted on the media outlet's Telegram channel.
"The only condition that the government of Afghanistan put forward was that the Afghan people should determine the future system and regime in the country. This system should be achieved by the free expression of the will of the Afghan people so that Afghanistan does not turn into a base of international terrorism again," Atmar added.
"If the Taliban rejects this proposal, it will, therefore, reject not only a proposal of the state of Afghanistan. They will reject a proposal of both the regional scope and international nature, in which Russia also took an active part," the Afghan foreign minister said.
Kabul will take efforts to achieve peace in the country jointly with Russia, Central Asia, European allies, the United States and the entire international community, Atmar stressed.
Peace plan
Some media outlets reported earlier on Thursday that the Afghan government had offered the Taliban "a new peace plan," in which it allegedly agreed to share power in the country. It was also indicated that in exchange Kabul reportedly demanded that the radical militant group immediately cease its offensive on Afghan cities.
Sometime after that, the Afghan president’s administration said that the peace plan for settling the conflict in Afghanistan "remains the same as previously announced." The Qatari TV Channel Al Jazeera reported citing a statement by Spokesman for the Taliban political office Mohammad Suhail Shaheen that the radical militant group had not received any new proposals related to power-sharing.