Afghanistan peace talks scheduled to take place in Turkey this month were likely to end in deadlock, Javid Ahmad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the UAE, said on Monday.
Addressing a US think tank, Mr Ahmad said that talks between his government and the Taliban would not deliver results because the insurgents were not feeling enough pressure from the US.
Washington is pushing for talks to be hosted by Turkey, with UN involvement, to finalise a peace deal between the government and the Taliban, as a May 1 deadline looms for the withdrawal of US and other foreign troops.
“My personal view is that there will likely be a deadlock in the Turkey conference, if the conference happens,” Mr Ahmad told an online meeting of the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
“The United States is losing leverage, arguably, by the day.”
According to Mr Ahmad, peace talks between his government and the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha in recent years have stalled and should be rotated around other venues.
“The Doha talks have faltered spectacularly, if not failed altogether, because they haven't yielded the results that were intended or desired,” Mr Ahmad said.
The Taliban were too comfortable in Doha, he added.
A date for the Turkey meeting was yet to be decided, but it could be within the next fortnight.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is set to propose a three-phase peace road map for Afghanistan at the Turkey meeting in pursuit of a deal with the Taliban and a ceasefire before elections.
The plan is a counter to proposals advanced by Washington, and dismissed by Kabul, that envisage drawing up a new legal system for an interim power-sharing administration with Taliban members.
The Taliban threatened to resume hostilities against foreign forces in Afghanistan if they did not meet the May 1 withdrawal deadline set in a deal between the group and the Trump administration last year.
US President Joe Biden said this month it would be "hard" to withdraw the remaining US troops from Afghanistan by that deadline but said he did not think US forces would be in the country by next year.
A senior government official said the Taliban was willing to extend the May 1 deadline and would cease attacks on foreign troops in exchange for the release of thousands of their prisoners held by Kabul authorities.
Mohammed Naeem, a Taliban spokesman in Qatar, said no such offer had been made.
According to Mr Ahmad, the Taliban were not under enough pressure to make concessions.
“The Taliban are conducting the talks on their own terms. They're also fighting on their own terms. I suspect, and I would posit, that they would also want to have a power-sharing arrangement on their own terms,” Mr Ahmad said.
“The Taliban's objectives since 1996 have not really changed, and that is to take over the Afghan system and fundamentally change it. So, in this case, they're quite uncompromising. They're very stubborn.”
Washington has been at war in Afghanistan for 20 years, with the conflict first beginning following the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Pennsylvania.
Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump tried — and failed – to bring the US deployment there to an end.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
MATCH DETAILS
Chelsea 4
Jorginho (4 pen, 71 pen), Azpilicueta (63), James (74)
Ajax 4
Abraham (2 og), Promes (20). Kepa (35 og), van de Beek (55)
The years Ramadan fell in May
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Lupita%20Nyong'o%2C%20Joseph%20Quinn%2C%20Djimon%20Hounsou%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMichael%20Sarnoski%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
