Afghan President Will Reject Any US-Taliban Peace Deal He Isn’t Involved In

Continuing to fume over the talks in Moscow in which he is not personally involved, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani warned he will oppose any US-Taliban peace deal meant to end the Afghan War in which he and his government weren’t named as the final “decision-maker.”

Ghani, who is up for reelection in the delayed presidential election, has been sidelined throughout the peace talks. The Taliban have refused any talks with the Ghani government directly, insisting that they are a US puppet and can offer nothing without a US pullout.

While the US has given some nominal support to the idea of the Afghan government being involved in final talks, they’ve also negotiated on the basis of giving the Taliban substantial roles in a new “interim government” that would replace Ghani’s government outright.

Ghani addressed this in Tuesday’s comments, saying “no power in the country can dissolve the government,” and that “no one can push us aside.” There is no reason, however, to think that his government could resist a peace deal agreed to by the US and the Taliban.

This is particularly true because Ghani’s term is nearly over, and a number of key opposition figures are already engaged in talks with the Taliban. Getting the Afghan government on board with a peace deal really won’t be that difficult when the government itself can be changed in short order to suit the deal.