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Afghan Taliban's Haqqani Seeks US 'Partnership' in Post-Peace Deal

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - The Taliban's deputy chief, in a rare newspaper opinion
   piece published Thursday, has said that despite mutual mistrust, the
   insurgent group is "fully committed" to upholding a peace deal it is
   about to sign with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan."

   The long war has exacted a terrible cost from everyone.'¦ Everyone is
   tired of war," Sirajuddin Haqqani, the militant commander who allegedly
   directs suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks out of neighboring
   Pakistan, wrote in The New York Times.

   Haqqani stressed that achieving the potential of the U.S.-Taliban
   agreement and ensuring its success would depend on "an equally
   scrupulous observance" by Washington of each of its commitments.

   "Only then can we have complete trust and lay the foundation for
   cooperation -- or even a partnership -- in the future," said Haqqani,
   who allegedly maintains close ties with the Pakistani spy agency, the
   Inter-Services Intelligence. Pakistan denies having any links to
   Haqqani or his dreaded militant network, known as the Haqqani Network
   (HN).

   The newspaper article comes after U.S. and Taliban officials recently
   agreed to a seven-day period of reduced violence in Afghanistan. If the
   temporary truce is successful, the two adversaries could sign the
   long-awaited peace agreement later this month.

   Speaking on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that he saw "a chance"
   of a peace deal with the Taliban, which would lead to the withdrawal of
   troops from Afghanistan and end America's longest war.

   "We are negotiating with the Taliban. We've been negotiating with them
   for a while. We will see what happens. There's a chance of making a
   deal. There's a chance," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in
   Maryland.

   Both sides have negotiated a draft agreement in contentious 18-month
   talks.

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