The Taliban movement announced that it had made wide adjustments and changes in a number of key positions within it, while Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani confirmed that the process of transfer of power would not take place except through elections.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan, citing a source in the movement, stated that the amendments included appointing governors and heads of new military committees for 14 Afghan provinces in the areas where the movement is active.
These appointments coincide with the US administration’s announcement of its intention to review the Doha Agreement between the United States and the Taliban movement signed in February of last year.
The head of the Taliban delegation to the Afghan peace negotiations, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, met yesterday in Doha with the US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, and the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller.
In the context, Muhammad Naim, a spokesman for the political bureau of the Taliban and a member of the movement’s delegation to the negotiations, said that the delegation held talks with the US envoy on Friday and Saturday.
Naim explained - in an interview with Al Jazeera - that the talks focused on the unimplemented provisions of the agreement concluded in Doha between the movement and the Afghan government, including the release of prisoners, removing the movement’s name from black lists, and the formation of what he described as the Islamic government.
Ghani statements
On the other hand, Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani said that the transfer of power will not take place except through the ballot box, and that his government is ready to discuss holding elections sponsored by the United Nations.
Ashraf Ghani's statements are the first official comment from Kabul regarding what sources have reported about Zalmay Khalilzad's proposal to form a transitional government in partnership with the Taliban.
Ghani said, "The transfer of power through the ballot box is a matter that cannot be compromised. We are ready to discuss free, fair and comprehensive elections under the supervision of the international community, and we can talk about setting a date for the elections and reaching a clear result."
Meanwhile, an Afghan security official said that 8 members of the Afghan forces were killed and 4 wounded in an attack by Taliban militants on an Afghan checkpoint in the "Nahr Shahi" district in the northern state of Balkh.