Real negotiations in Afghanistan begin now: Jaishankar

NEW DELHI: Foreign minister S. Jaishankar on Monday said that the “real negotiations” will begin now that the US-Taliban has concluded peace agreement.

Speaking at the inauguration Centre for Policy Research Dialogues here on Monday, Jaishankar said, “To my mind, the real negotiations will start now.”

“…We have to see that many of the assumptions that we had – how cohesive are various players, what do they do, what are their demands, and finally do the Taliban join a democratic set up or does a democratic set up adjust to the Taliban. I think those are all issues for which right now there are no clear answers,” said Jaishankar.


Jaishankar said that Afghanistan has undergone “big changes” in the last 18 years.’

“To the US and the West – our message has been though the achievement of 18 years is in global interest, those achievements are to be protected, not jeopardised,” he said.

“You are watching the space, I am watching the space and that space will evolve.”

On Monday, the Taliban announced that that it will only take part in the intra-Afghan talks in Oslo in March after the release of the prisoners.

“We are fully ready for the intra-Afghan talks, but we are waiting for the release of our 5,000 prisoners…If our 5,000 prisoners – 100 or 200 more or less does not matter – do not get released there will be no intra-Afghan talks,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

There were also reports that Taliban had stated that it would resume military operations against Afghan forces, but would spare foreign troops.