Suicide bomb attack in Kabul April 30, 2018. Reuters
Ruchi Kumar, The Hindu: Taliban chooses war over elections
The Taliban has turned down an offer from President Ashraf Ghani to join the much-delayed parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. In a speech made earlier this month in Kabul, while launching the voter registration process, the Afghan President appealed to the group that has been waging an increasingly bloody insurgency to shun violence and participate in the democratic process.
“Transparent elections are the only tool through which political reforms can take place and the politics of coercion can be replaced with productive politics,” he said, reiterating his offer to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban made in February. “The Taliban can act as a political party and utilise this opportunity and the peace offer,” Mr. Ghani said. “Afghan people should no longer be subject to suffering from the ongoing war.”
Read more ....
WNU Editor: In all my years of following the Taliban I can say with confidence that the only time that the Taliban were ever interested in participating in peace talks was with the expectation that everyone was going to leave, and that they would then assume power. Bottom line .... there is going to be no peace in Afghanistan until the people in Afghanistan say enough is enough .... which I do not see happening any time soon.
