‘Plan was in place for inclusive govt before Afghan fell to Taliban’

A Taliban fighter walks next to women waiting in line during a food distribution programme on the outskirts of Kabul. Pic/AFP

Zalmay Khalilzad, the former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, has said that a plan was in place for an inclusive government in the war-torn nation before it fell to the Taliban on August 15, the media reported.

In an exclusive interview to TOLO News, the Afghan-origin diplomat said that few days before Kabul's collapse, he was in Doha where he held talks with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the incumbent deputy prime minister of the Taliban government, and they agreed to hold talks with Afghan politicians and a delegation from the administration of former president Ashraf Ghani on forming an inclusive interim government. He further claimed that the Taliban had agreed to not enter Kabul until an inclusive government was formed.

"It was agreed that the Taliban forces would not enter Kabul and a number of their forces, who were in the city, would leave the capital. In the meantime, a delegation from the government was set to visit Doha and to form an agreement with the Taliban on an inclusive government within two weeks," Khalilzad, who stepped down from his position as the special representative in October, told TOLO News.

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