Amrullah Saleh: Is the Afghan peace process running out of road?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2021
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If Afghanistan is to find a way out of seemingly never-ending war the next few weeks will be critically important. The Biden Administration is pressing the Afghan Government and the Taliban to accept a transition plan based on a ceasefire and power-sharing. It’s a tough sell, given the taliban has intensified its military campaign in recent months. But what’s the alternative? Stephen Sackur speaks to Afghanistan’s First Vice President Amrullah Saleh. Is the Afghan peace process running out of road?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sackett. My guest today is the combative, |
| 0:06.7 | outspoken, first vice president of Afghanistan, Amrullah Saleh. In a country beset by conflict for decades, |
| 0:15.2 | he has forged a reputation as a fighter and a survivor. He was a protégé of the Northern Alliance commander |
| 0:22.7 | Ahmad Shah Masoud, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda 20 years ago. He's long been a sworn |
| 0:29.3 | enemy of the Taliban and their associates, who've made several concerted efforts to kill him. |
| 0:35.7 | In 2019, he miraculously escaped a suicide attack on his political |
| 0:40.2 | headquarters, which killed dozens, including two of his nephews. Hardly surprising then that he is |
| 0:46.9 | very public with his concern about the current Afghan peace process, designed to put an end to the fighting and draw the Taliban into |
| 0:56.3 | politics. The Biden administration is pressuring the Kabul government and the Taliban to agree |
| 1:02.5 | to a power-sharing transition, even as fighting rages in many parts of the country. Donald Trump |
| 1:09.8 | promised that all U.S. troops would be pulled out of the |
| 1:12.4 | country by May. It's not clear if his successor will stick to that deadline, but nonetheless, |
| 1:18.2 | the pressure on President Ashraf Ghani and his senior deputy is obvious. How will they respond? |
| 1:25.1 | Well, first Vice President Amrullah Sale, joins me now on the line from Kabul. |
| 1:30.5 | Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you. Good to be with you. |
| 1:33.9 | It's a pleasure to have you on the show, Mr. Vice President. I would like you first to tell me how you feel about the Biden administration, sending your government a very clear and blunt message. Show leadership, |
| 1:48.2 | they said, take tough decisions for peace. Are you ready to do that? To begin what we are thankful for the |
| 1:56.9 | amount of time this administration in the United States has given to peace process |
| 2:03.2 | in Afghanistan, and Afghanistan as a whole, they are involved. |
| 2:08.6 | We have had good discussions with them. |
| 2:10.9 | But if you are referring to the letter we received from Secretary of State, we clearly |
| 2:17.4 | responded back that we have been taking very risky and |
... |
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