WEB DESK

Veteran Afghan mujahedeen leader and head of the Hezb-e-Islami party, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, has expressed his willingness to form an alliance with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Hezb-e-Islami is ready for direct talks with the Taliban, as well as for partnership and cooperation. We believe that if these two groups join hands, the crisis in Afghanistan will end soon and no force will be able to stand against it,” he told supporters at the party’s headquarters in the capital Kabul on Saturday.

“When the first round of talks between Kabul [the Afghan government] and the Taliban is completed, we are ready for the Hezb-e-Islami and the Taliban to start talks. The decision now rests with the Taliban.”

The Taliban, engaged in landmark direct talks with the Afghan government since last Saturday, is yet to react on the offer.

Hekmatyar asserted that the Afghan government was “weak and divided,” while the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami “share mutual beliefs, values, and ideology.”

Earlier this month, he said the US had realized that its presence in Afghanistan had resulted in nothing but financial and human losses.