Differing definitions of Afghan war cause stalling of Qatar talks

The radical Taliban insist on recognizing the Afghan war as a jihad on the basis of Islamic Sharia and a struggle for the country’s freedom, while the Afghan government refuses to accept this perspective

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New Delhi: Lingering disagreements over the exact terminology to be used to refer to the war in Afghanistan have fumed differences between the Afghan government and Taliban negotiators. The differences have reportedly caused stalling of the ongoing peace negotiation talks in Doha, Qatar. According to officials, the biggest dispute is the definition of the ongoing war. While the radical Taliban regard this war as a jihad on the basis of Islamic Sharia and a struggle for the country’s freedom, the government refuses to accept this perspective and definition.

“Many issues have been agreed on, but most of the discussions have focused on the definition of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. This has stretched the differences between the two sides,” the government source said while adding that the Taliban has insisted that the government acknowledge the Taliban’s fight in Afghanistan as a legitimate ‘jihad.

The Taliban continue to insist that Afghanistan had been invaded and that they had launched a jihad against it. They state that the ruling government should admit that their fight was right.

Over the past two weeks, ‘contact groups’ appointed by both sides on the first day of the talks have met several times to finalize procedural issues ahead of further negotiations, but no breakthrough has so far been reported.

Another senior government official claimed that another contentious point regarding the Taliban’s insistence on all decisions in the peace talks being made solely on the basis of Hanafi jurisprudence – one of the four major schools of Sunni Islamic legal reasoning – had been resolved. The government has accepted the Taliban’s demands.

Meanwhile, speaking to international media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also insisted that ‘only one Islamic jurisprudence’ should have official status in Afghanistan.

“In every country, there is only one official jurisprudence that is regarded as a law. There is no country in the Islamic world where two Islamic schools of law are regarded as official laws of that country. This is like implementing two conflicting laws, and it is irrational,” Mujahid said.

Afghan National Security Council appoints new spokesman
The National Security Council (NSC) of Afghanistan has appointed Mawlawi Rahmatullah Andar as its new spokesman. Andar, who is an eminent religious scholar, has served as an adviser in the Ministry of Information and Culture as well as an adviser in NSC’s religious affairs department.

During the early years of the US campaign in Afghanistan, Andar was a Taliban official but later joined pro-government militias in Ghazni. Andar has replaced Javid Faisal as the NSC spokesman. According to a series of tweets by the NSC, Faisal has been appointed as a senior adviser to National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib on political affairs.