US Secretary of State to have direct talks with Afghan Taliban
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KABUL - US Secretary of State may have direct talks with Afghan Taliban, he has hinted to the media.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has hoped that there is sufficient progress in the deliberations for him to travel in the next couple of weeks to move it further, TOLO News has reported.
The US was trying to “find pockets” where there was “sufficient agreement” that everyone could begin to move forward, Pompeo said at a farmers’ gathering in Iowa on Monday, at a time when Special US Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and his team are holding talks with the Taliban in Doha.
“I have a team on the ground right now trying to negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan, trying to find a way to achieve an Afghanistan that's not at war, that's not engaged in violence, that doesn't present a threat to the United States of America, that will respect the fundamental basic rights for every Afghan citizen—women, children—across the full spectrum,” he said.
Pompeo was responding to a question from farmers after his address at the “Future Farmers of America” event in Iowa.