Taliban announce peace talks with US

Taliban negotiators will meet their US counterparts on Feb 18 in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad as part of accelerating diplomacy to end more than 17 years of war in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on Wednesday. But a US State Department representative said in a statement that the United States had “not received a formal invitation to any talks”. Mujahid said in a statement that the Qatar talks would still take place as scheduled. He also said his side would meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold “comprehensive discussions about Pakistan-Afghanistan relations”.