Pompeo to meet Taliban in Doha in effort to revive peace talks

Mike Pompeo has flown to Doha to meet senior Taliban officials after talks with the Afghan government in Kabul as part of a mission to salvage a shortlived peace agreement.

The US secretary of state’s decision to make the trip despite the state department’s warning to all Americans to avoid foreign travel reflects the importance the administration puts on saving the 29 February US-Taliban ceasefire agreement, which was meant to lead to talks between Kabul and the Taliban on Afghanistan’s future.

Pompeo, who faces discontent among his staff over the state department’s handling of the pandemic, was to meet the chief Taliban negotiator, Mullah Baradar, after spending nearly nine hours on Monday in the Afghan capital with the incumbent president, Ashraf Ghani, and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, who is disputing Ghani’s official victory in last year’s elections. Both men have held their own separate inauguration ceremonies.

Morgan Ortagus, the state department spokeswoman, said Pompeo was meeting Baradar “to press the Taliban to continue to comply with the agreement signed last month”.

The rift in Kabul and the breakdown of a planned prisoner exchange with the Taliban have stalled progress towards peace talks following the agreement of the temporary ceasefire, under which the Taliban said it would not attack US troops as they withdrew from the country.

US and allied troops have begun