President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said any agreement ‘signed behind the scene’ and ‘lacking transparency’ would have fundamental issues during its execution stage.

He made the remarks during a press conference after the conclusion of peace deal between the United States and the Taliban group in Qatari capital of Doha.

Emphasizing on ‘Democratic Islamic values’, President Ghani said the delegation which would represent the Afghan government during the next phase of talks, would represent the ‘Democratic Islamic Values’ and ‘Constitution of Afghanistan.

However, he said Kabul would determine the authority of the visiting delegation, insisting that that the authority of the negotiating delegation would be limited as the final decision maker would either be the parliament or the Grand Assembly as per the constitution of Afghanistan.

In other parts of his speech, Ghani emphasized that no commitment exists regarding the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, emphasizing that the Afghan government has repeatedly shared with the United States.

President Ghani further added that only the Afghan government has the authority to release Taliban prisoners, not the United States.

He also emphasized that the Afghan people must have the confidence that the prisoners who are going to be released, would not pick arms and fight against the Afghan people.

In regards to intra-Afghan talks, Ghani said the scope of negotiations between the Afghan government and Taliban would be more vast than the scope of negotiations between the U.S. and Taliban.

The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban’s deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar signed the peace agreement with Taliban in Qatari capital of Doha on Saturday.

The two sides signed the deal after almost 18 months of negotiations in Doha.

