Report: U.S. held talks with Taliban on ending Afghan war
KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. diplomats held talks with Taliban delegates on Monday in the United Arab Emirates to discuss ways to endthewarinAfghanistan, a Taliban spokesman and Afghan government officials said.
Saudi, Pakistani and UAE officials also participated in the meeting, one of several held between U.S. diplomats and representatives of the Afghan insurgent group in recent months, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the UAE were the only nations that recognized the Taliban’s radical Islamist government when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until its ouster in late 2001.
There was no official confirmation from the presidential palace in Kabul whether any government official would participate in the meeting. But Afghanistan’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, said in a tweet that he met Sunday in the UAE with officials from the three countries and the United States.
Mohib said he discussed President Ashraf Ghani’s road map for peace, which allows Taliban representatives to take part in the political process and run for office. The plan also raises the prospect of constitutional changes while maintaining what the government describes as the country’s achievements since the militants were driven from power in Kabul by Afghan resistance forces and U.S. airstrikes.
Mohib said he had discussed the “direct engagement of the Afghan government with the Taliban for an intra-Afghan dialogue.”
ShahHussainMurtazawi, a spokesman for Ghani, said the U.S.-Taliban meetingwas being coordinated with the Afghan government.
“The Afghan government supports any effort and action that paves the wayforan Afghan-led peace process,” he said. Ultimately, “it is the Afghan government that signs and parliament that approves any peace agreement.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul described the meeting as “part of efforts by the United States and other international partners to promote an intraAfghan dialogue aimed at ending the conflict in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban has repeatedly refused to deal directly with Ghani’s government, which the group considers a U.S. puppet that is racked by internal divisions and regarded as inefficient.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the new U.S. envoy for Afghanistan, will lead the talks in the UAE, officials said. He has held at least two meetings with Taliban officials in Qatar, where the group maintains a political office. The Taliban said last month that its representatives met with Khalilzad for three days in Doha, the Qatari capital.
He has traveled to the region and spoken with a number of diplomats and leaders since he was appointed as a special envoy by President Donald Trump in September.
The Afghan-born diplomat suggested the formation of an interim government instead of holding a presidential election as scheduled in April. The aim would be to allow the peace process to succeed and then hold the vote with the Taliban’s participation.
But members of Ghani’s administration have rejected the idea, insisting on going ahead with the election despite widely mismanaged parliamentary polls in October.
The main stumbling blocks in past talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives have been conditions set by the two sides on how to end the war.
The Taliban has insisted on a pullout date for U.S.-led troops before any talks with the Kabul government and has demanded that Washington not oppose the establishment of an Islamist government.
U.S. officials have been pushing to keep some troops and at least a couple of bases in the country.