Afghan President Ghani calls on Taliban for peace talks

Now is the “right moment” for peace in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said yesterday as he once more called on the Taliban to negotiate with his government. The Taliban have steadfastly refused to discuss peace with Ghani, whom they consider a US stooge heading an illegitimate regime. But a series of talks in recent days seems to have shifted the needle in Afghanistan’s war, with the US and the Taliban claiming to have made significant progress during a summit in Doha. “In the past 18 years the time was not right for peace, for a realistic peace. Today is the right moment,” Ghani said at an EU anti-corruption conference being held in Kabul.