The United States has welcomed political negotiations between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
“We support an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process for a negotiated resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan,” said John Kirby, spokesman of the US Department of State.
Kirby further added that all relevant groups, including Hezb-e-Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, should be a part of such a political dialogue so that Afghans can talk directly to other Afghans about the future of their country.
“So in this regard, we would welcome political negotiations that have been taking place. Among the Afghan Government, the Afghan High Peace Council, and the representatives of the group,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said the United States will continue to seek reconciliation conditions, including that any reconciled group must end the violence.
“These are end conditions, not preconditions – that any reconciled group must end violence, break associations with international terrorism, and accept Afghanistan’s constitution, as we’ve said many times, which includes the protections for women and for minorities,” Kirby said.
He reiterated that “So we don’t have preconditions going into this, but this is an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process.”
