Taliban shoot down Afghan peace talks offer
KABUL/PESHAWAR: The Taliban have rejected Kabul’s offer of talks next month in Saudi Arabia where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic law in Afghanistan, will meet US officials to further peace efforts, a Taliban leader said on Sunday. Representatives from the Taliban, the US and regional countries met this month in the UAE for talks to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan. But the Taliban have refused to hold formal talks with the Western-backed Afghan government
KABUL/PESHAWAR: The Taliban have rejected Kabul’s offer of talks next month in Saudi Arabia where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic law in Afghanistan, will meet US officials to further peace efforts, a Taliban leader said on Sunday.
Representatives from the Taliban, the US and regional countries met this month in the UAE for talks to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan. But the Taliban have refused to hold formal talks with the Western-backed Afghan government.
“We will meet the US officials in Saudi Arabia in January next year and we will start our talks that remained incomplete in Abu Dhabi,” a member of the Taliban’s decision-making Leadership Council told Reuters. “However, we have made it clear to all the stakeholders that we will not talk to the Afghan government.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also said the leaders of the group would not talk to the Afghan government.
The militants have insisted on first reaching an agreement with the US, which the group sees as the main force in Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict have intensified after Taliban representatives started meeting US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad this year.
Officials from the warring sides have met at least three times to discuss the withdrawal of international forces and a ceasefire in 2019.
But the US has insisted that any final settlement must be led by the Afghans.
According to data from the NATO-led Resolute Support mission published in November, the government of President Ashraf Ghani has control or influence
PAK FOREIGN MINISTER IN QATAR FOR TALKS
Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani, deputy PM and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Thani and other officials during a trip to Doha on Sunday.
Qureshi discussed the Afghan reconciliation process and issues of mutual interests.
The Pakistan foreign minister, who last week wrapped up a tour of Kabul, Tehran, Beijing and Moscow in connection with the Afghan peace process, said Pakistan decided on a “regional outreach” and on taking important allies into confidence, as well as exchanging views with them about the Afghan issue.
Qatar has been hosting the Taliban’s political office since 2013.
On December 24, Pakistan PM Imran Khan had spoken to the Qatari ruler Tamim al-Thani. (With inputs from Imtiaz Ahmad in
Islamabad)