Abedi Mohammad Daoud, a spokesman for the faction Hizb-i-Islami, said Wednesday that the United Nations requested a meeting with the delegation, which follows talks that the group linked with the Taliban _ _ had last week with President Hamid Karzai.
He said the group also plans to talk with representatives of the European Union, but an official at the UN office said it had no information on a meeting with the delegation.
Rumors of a possible reconciliation with the insurgents, however, have not reduced the violence, especially in southern Afghanistan, where it develops a vast military operation to oust the Taliban in areas of Helmand province. NATO said two soldiers were killed Wednesday in a bomb blast a1000nd another in a shooting attack.
This is the first time that senior representatives of the insurgent Gulbuddin Hekmatyar travel to Kabul to discuss peace. It was unclear if talks with Hekmatyar”s group would lead to concrete results in the eight-year war, taking into account the demand of the faction of an early withdrawal of foreign troops.
Hizb-i-Islami wants international forces begin to withdraw in July _ a year before the deadline set by U.S. President Barack Obama to begin withdrawing. But Abedi said the group is flexible in that point of his peace offer, which has 15 points.
“That”s the point of departure,” Abedi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “If we initiate the process, we can be ready to accept another year”.
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