EU, China urge Taliban to seize offer for talks

BEIJING: China and the European Union believe the Taliban should seize Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer to recognise the movement as a legitimate political group, the EU’s special envoy to Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among a range of options, including new elections involving the militants, and a constitutional review for a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that, last year alone, killed or wounded more than 10,000 Afghan civilians.

The Taliban have not yet given any formal answer to the offer, but US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday during an unannounced visit to Kabul that the United States is seeing signs of interest in talks from elements of the insurgency.

“China and the EU believe that this is an offer that is meaningful. It is an offer that presents an opportunity and a window that should be seized by all parties across the conflict lines,” EU Ambassador Roland Kobia said after meeting his Chinese counterpart, Deng Xijun, in Beijing.

“We, as the EU, very much hope that the Taliban will respond to that offer to start discussion,” Kobia said. “In these kinds of scenarios windows open very quickly but they can also close very quickly,” he said. Kobia added that China had various contacts with the Taliban, but he was not aware of the details.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/world