Taliban's rapid gains prompts Afghan leadership to consider forming interim govt

The participants of the meeting agreed to assign an authoritative team for negotiations

KABUL (Dunya News) – Taliban s successive victories in Afghanistan have put the Afghan government in a difficult position, prompting the country to consider forming an interim government.

According to Afghan media reports, shortly after his pre-recorded message to the nation, President Ashraf Ghani held a consultative meeting with political and jihadi leaders who supported his notion for preventing further instability in the country, the Presidential Palace said.

The participants of the meeting agreed to assign an authoritative team for negotiations to represent the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Palace said.

The statement did not elaborate on the nature of the responsibility that will be assigned to the team, but analysts said it might push further plans for overcoming the current situation by pushing plans of ceasefire and an interim setup.

Ahead of this meeting, a group of influential Afghan political leaders met behind closed doors for many hours in a meeting led by Chairman Abdullah Abdullah to discuss the country’s situation, ceasefire and a possible plan to establish an interim government, sources familiar with the matter said.

Abdullah’s last week s visit to Doha was also discussed in the meeting, media reports said.

Former president Hamid Karzai, former vice president and head of Hizb-e-Wahdat-e-Islami party Mohammad Karim Khalili, head of Jamiat-e-Islami Salahuddin Rabbani, presidential adviser Mohammad Mohaqiq, Parliament Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani, former vice president Mohammad Yunus Qanooni, Sayed Mansour Naderi, Haji Din Mohammad, Babur Farahmand and Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar.

The efforts come as the Taliban is rapidly advancing on the battlefields as it captured three provincial capitals and at least 10 districts in the last 24 hours.

Remobilisation of armed forces

Earlier today, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had said that the remobilisation of the country’s armed forces was a "top priority", as Taliban fighters inched closer to the capital after routing the country’s defences over the past week.

"In the current situation, the remobilisation of our security and defence forces is our top priority, and serious steps are being taken in this regard," he said in a televised speech.

He gave no hint he would resign or take responsibility for the current situation, but said "consultations" were taking place to try and end the war.

"As a historic mission, I will not let the imposed war on people cause more deaths," he said, appearing sombre and sitting before an Afghan flag.

"Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government with the elders, political leaders, representatives of people, and international partners on achieving a reasonable and certain political solution in which the peace and stability of the people of Afghanistan are envisaged."

With the country’s second and third-largest cities having fallen into Taliban hands, Kabul has effectively become a besieged last stand for government forces who have offered little or no resistance elsewhere.

But Ghani praised the forces "that have defended the nation courageously and showed strong determination".