Taliban say Afghan leaders obstructive

The leader of the Taliban said peace efforts are running into “diplomatic obstructions” by President Ashraf Ghani’s administration, sidelined in recent talks between prominent Afghan figures and the militant group.

The Taliban “shall pay no heed to such futile efforts” to seek prominence, Hibatullah Akhundzada said in his annual Eid-ul-Fitr statement Saturday.

He made the comments two days after a group including Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai, met with the Taliban’s deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and a delegation of 13 members in Moscow to try to end war in the country. Those talks ended without palpable movement toward a Taliban cease-fire.

Taliban leaders resisted international calls for a ceasefire during the three-day Eid celebration.

The group also has rebuffed efforts by Ghani to engage in talks and called his presidency illegitimate.

Akhundzada reiterated demands for a U.S. military withdrawal as a condition of a cease-fire and direct talks with Ghani.

“No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of Jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives,” he said.

Afghan politicians are concerned that the Taliban’s participation in government could open the way for the return of a regime that had banned women from education and punished men for shaving beards from 1996-2001. Akhundzada rejected the power monopoly claim, saying that all Afghans will have a role in the government.