British and Nato partners left trailing US moves in peace talks with Taliban

US President Donald Trump said he is prepared to make a peace deal with the Taliban if a temporary truce reached last week holds.

British diplomatic officials expressed support for the seven-day period of reduced violence in Afghanistan.

In a tweet, the UK Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gareth Bayley, said he hoped the truce would lead to further progress towards peace.

“I welcome talks between US and Taliban representatives, as well as the proposed reduction in violence, which needs to happen,” Mr Bayley wrote.

However, with British involvement in Afghanistan significantly reduced after the withdrawal of most UK troops in 2014, the country has found itself in the back seat when it has come to negotiations to end the 19-year conflict.

“The British side is not as heavily invested in Afghan security and politics as the Americans,” Umer Karim, a visiting fellow at the Royal

United Services Institute, told The National.

“So the UK may have been taken into confidence on these developments by the US, but it wasn’t involved in the peace talks or in the developments leading to the recent truce,” he said.

Britain may become involved in the next phase of intraAfghan negotiations if a peace deal is forthcoming, but the UK, like other European nations, has not propelled itself to the fore in talks between the Afghan parties.

“The EU has offered its services to be involved more in the peace process, but hasn’t actually striven hard or tried to really interject,” Mr Karim said.

Nato stated its intention to involve itself in the intraAfghan dialogue.

The alliance’s senior civilian representative to Afghanistan and Britain’s former ambassador to the country, Sir Nicholas Kay, held meetings with officials in Kabul to lay the groundwork for talks between the government and the Taliban yesterday.

However, his own nation’s role in this capacity appears destined to be secondary.

Speaking at last week’s Nato defence ministerial summit in Brussels, Nato head Jens Stoltenberg indicated Germany and Norway would lead the alliance’s negotiating efforts.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that the truce was holding despite insurgent attacks and US strikes against ISIS targets.

“So far the reduction in violence is working – imperfect, but it’s working,” he said.

The truce, which has lasted four days, does not amount to a full ceasefire but the number of Taliban attacks has fallen dramatically.

The UK may have been taken into confidence on these developments by the US, but it wasn’t involved in the talks UMER KARIM Royal United Services Institute fellow