KABUL, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has denounced the reported Taliban idea to dissolve the country's national army after a peace deal as a conspiracy against his government security institutions.
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the former head of the Taliban liaison office in Qatar who headed the Taliban negotiation team in talks with the U.S. delegation recently, has reportedly said that there would be "no need for an army in Afghanistan" once the U.S. forces withdraws from the war-battered country.
Slamming the idea as a "conspiracy" to dismantle Afghanistan's national security and defense forces to keep on the instability and chaotic situation in the country, President Ghani categorically said "A peace that our security and defense forces do not guarantee is not acceptable to us", according to a statement from the Presidential Palace.
According to media reports, U.S. Special Representative for Afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad who has met Taliban delegates four times since November last year has reached a deal with Taliban under which the armed outfit said it would announce ceasefire if the U.S. government declares timetable for the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.
"Those who are forcefully bringing others to negotiation must not talk about dissolving our army if they are so brave, then they must come and fight on the battlefield instead of carrying out suicide attacks and explosions," Ghani said, according to the statement.
