Qatar talks best chance for peace, US tells Afghan Prez

KABUL: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Afghanistan’s president over the weekend to express Washington’s disappointment over the indefinite postponement of Afghan talks with the Taliban and to condemn the insurgent’s latest “spring offensive,” according to a statement Monday.

The Afghan-to-afghan talks were scheduled to start on Friday in Qatar, where the Taliban maintain an office, but were scuttled after a falling out over who should attend. The gathering would have marked the first time that Taliban and Kabul government officials sat together.

It was considered a significant first step toward finding a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest conflict, and the eventual withdrawal of US troops from the country.

The State Department said Pompeo called President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday over the postponement and also condemned the Taliban’s recent announcement of starting another offensive this spring. The announcement itself was just a show of strength since the Taliban have kept up relentless near-daily attacks even during the harsh winter months, inflicting staggering losses on the embattled Afghan military and security forces.

Many civilians also loss their lives in the cross-fire.

In his phone call with Ghani, Pompeo encouraged both sides to agree on participants, saying the talks are Afghanistan’s best chance at peace. Before the postponement, Washington’s special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has met on several occasions with the Taliban and has pressed for Afghan-to-afghan talks, had hoped the Qatar talks would bring the sides closer to a “roadmap” for a future Afghanistan.

Kabul, which had been sidelined for months from Us-taliban talks because the insurgents refuse to talk directly with government officials, had offered a massive delegation of 250 participants, including prominent Afghan figures, government and opposition representatives, as well as others. The Qatari hosts came back with what they said was a revised acceptable list that drastically reduced the number of women and eliminated all government ministers from the list.

Each side blamed the other for scuttling the talks as violence continues unabated. Afghan government forces face not only a resurgent Taliban who now hold sway over nearly half the country but also militants from the Islamic State group.

IS targeted the Telecommunications Ministry in Kabul, with a suicide bomber striking outside the ministry and clearing the way for gunmen to enter the heavilyguarded compound.