The Taliban on Friday said they see the Ashraf Ghani-led Afghan government as “the main hurdle” in the Afghan Peace Process, accusing Afghan President Ashraf Ghani of unwilling to transfer power to the next government, Tolonews reported.  

The statement came from Abbas Stanekzai, a senior leader and member of the negotiation team of the Taliban. He has been camping in Moscow for talks with Russians.

“Ashraf Ghani’s administration is the only hurled for peace… One of their insincerity is that their (Afghan Republic’s negotiating) team has not been given full authority for talks,” Stanekzai was quoted as saying by TOLOnews. He was addressing a press conference there in Moscow.

Stanekzai also claimed that the Taliban team was given full authority to make all decisions on the negotiation table.

The Afghan government and the Taliban are currently engaged in the Intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha, Qatar. The US-Taliban deal, signed in February last year, has made the provision of the Intra-Afghan dialogue for finding a power-sharing agreement to end the decades-long conflict in the country. 

On the ceasefire, Stanekzai said that the Taliban should not be expected to lay down their arms as long as international troops remain in Afghanistan. Earlier, the US administration has made it clear that they intend to review the US-Taliban deal. The Taliban, however, called the decision “an internal matter” of the US.

The Taliban spokesperson Dr. Muhammad Naeem said the group was committed to fulfilling its commitments under the US-Taliban and hoped that the new US administration would also follow on the promises made in the agreement.

During the press conference in Moscow, Stanekzai said the group’s outreach to regional countries aimed at “leveraging regional consensus” on the Biden administration to follow on the Doha Deal. Earlier this week, a delegation of Taliban leaders had gone to Iran for discussion on the peace process.