KABUL: The latest round of US-Taliban talks ended in Qatar on Thursday, aninsurgent spokesman said, after “positive and constructive” negotiationsthat continued even as the Taliban bombed a US-funded aid group in Kabul.
Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s political spokesman in Doha, tweeted that“some progress” had been made at the sixth round of peace talks and thatthe foes would meet again for another round of discussions.
“In general, this round was positive and constructive. Both sides listenedto each other with care and patience,” Shaheen wrote on Twitter.
The US embassy in Kabul did not immediately comment, nor did US peace envoyZalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born former US ambassador to Afghanistan whois leading negotiations for the Americans.
Shaheen told AFP Sunday that peace negotiations were stumbling over thefundamental question of when foreign forces would depart Afghanistan.
Before the US agrees to any withdrawal as part of an eventual deal, it isdemanding the Taliban put in place security guarantees, a ceasefire andother commitments including an “intra-Afghan” dialogue with the Kabulgovernment and other Afghan representatives.
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The Taliban however insist they won’t do any of these things until the USannounces a withdrawal timeline.
At the end of a large peace summit in Kabul last week, President AshrafGhani offered the Taliban a ceasefire to begin on the first day of Ramadan,but the insurgents refused.
On Wednesday, a Taliban suicide bomber and four gunmen attacked CounterpartInternational, a non-profit group working with marginalised people inAfghanistan, killing nine people.
“This violent attack is a senseless assault on the noble values that theorganisations like Counterpart support, such as service to others,education, and inclusion,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in astatement. -APP/AFP
