UN Security Council slams Taliban attack on media workers

The Afghan government and its sponsored High Peace Council have stayed away from the Pugwash meet on the plea that they consider it unnecessary because of the recently launched quadrilateral process by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US.

An Afghan official has revealed in an unofficial forum in Qatar that the Afghan Taliban wants to be removed from a United Nations blacklist before considering rejoining peace talks with the Afghan Government aimed at ending the 15 year war.

The Afghan Taliban will send representatives to a conference organized by an worldwide crisis group that will discuss resolving the war in Afghanistan, the group said in a statement on Friday.

“The political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is the only authorised and responsible entity assigned by the Islamic Emirate to carry out talks”, the statement added.

Still, ISIS in Afghanistan has fairly limited territory, and has chiefly fought against the Taliban for what they do have.

Along with another popular privately owned station, 1 TV, Tolo was threatened by the Taliban in October following the broadcast of reports on the insurgents’ activities in the northern city of Kunduz, which the Taliban held for three days from late September.

A senior Taliban commander, who is not part of the conference, said that “the conditions presented by our representatives in the conference are not meant to express our disagreement with the peace process”.

Professor Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, the head of Pugwash, said afterwards there could be “no military solution” to Afghanistan’s problems.

Observers say the intensifying fighting led by the Taliban in Afghanistan highlights a push by the militants to gain greater concessions during any future direct talks.

Despite the efforts to restart talks, the Taleban since the start of the year have ramped up their campaign of violence across Afghanistan, with suicide attacks and territorial gains in Helmand province.

Earlier this week, Taliban militants targeted employees of the Tolo news channel – a Deutsche Welle media partner – killing seven people when a suicide bomber targeted their vehicle.

At least 25 other people were wounded in the bombing near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul, in the first direct assault on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.