Taliban hopeful of deal at new round of US peace talks

DOHA: The Taliban and Washington’s peace envoy are close to reaching an agreement on US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Islamic insurgents said on Tuesday amid a new round of peace talks.

Suhail Shaheen said the deal will also include guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used again as a staging arena for antiamerican attacks. His remarks came during the second day of talks in the Qatari capital of Doha with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad who has been trying to negotiate a resolution of the 17-year war in Afghanistan, America’s longest.

“If we do not reach a solution in this round of talks, then we will in the next round of talks, but that is our target,” Shaheen told The Associated Press. He said the sides in the talks are for now sticking to the two-point agenda: US withdrawal and no-attacks guarantees.

The Taliban, who refuse to talk with the government in Kabul and describe it as a US puppet, have long demanded direct talks with the US but until Khalilzad’s appointment last September, Washington had shied away from opening face-to-face negotiations. Khalilzad arrived on Monday for the talks in Doha and tweeted that this could be “a significant moment” in the process.

Khalilzad’s past rounds of talks with the Taliban focused on American troop withdrawal in exchange for guarantees of no attacks against the US but it was unclear how close he was on a deal on those issues. He has also been expected to pressure the Taliban to hold direct talks with the Kabul government. The Taliban, who had harboured al-qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, ruled Afghanistan before US invaded in 2001, following the 9/11 attacks.