KABUL – An Afghan peace negotiations team has arrived in Abu Dhabi, anofficial said Tuesday, a day after talks attended by US and Talibanrepresentatives were held in the city aimed at ending the 17-year conflict.
The team, led by chief negotiator Abdul Salam Rahimi, “arrived in Abu Dhabito begin proximity dialogue with the Taliban delegation and to prepare fora face-to-face meeting between the two sides”, the Afghan presidentialspokesman Haroon Chakhansuri tweeted.
The 12-person team was first announced in November by President AshrafGhani as part of a diplomatic effort to bring the Taliban to the table forpeace talks with the government in Kabul.
But the Taliban have not confirmed a meeting, and issued a statement onMonday reiterating their long-standing vow not to speak with Afghanofficials.
In a new message released Tuesday the militants said they had held”preliminary talks” with the US State Department’s special envoy, ZalmayKhalilzad, on Monday, with the discussions to continue.
They also said they had held “extensive” meetings with officials fromPakistan and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, repeating demands for internationalforces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan were the only three countries torecognise the Taliban government during its five-year rule from 1996-2001.
The US did not confirm direct meetings between Khalilzad and the Taliban inAbu Dhabi.
Late Monday Washington said meetings were ongoing in the UAE city “topromote an intra-Afghan dialogue toward ending the conflict”, and thatKhalilzad was in the region.
Khalilzad “has in the past met, and will continue to meet with allinterested parties, including the Taliban, to support a negotiatedsettlement to the conflict”, it continued.
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The meetings are the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts as Washingtonseeks a way out of the conflict, which began with the US invasion in 2001.
Khalilzad, who has expressed hopes for a deal to be in place beforeAfghaninstan’s presidential election scheduled for April next year, hasmade several trips to the region since his appointment in September.
On this trip the State Department said he is also visiting Afghanistan,Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Qatar, and Belgium, where hetweeted that he had met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
The international community has been optimistic about the possibility oftalks.
“The possibility of a negotiated end to the conflict has never been morereal in the past 17 years than it is now,” the head of the UN mission inAfghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, told the UN Security Council in New Yorkon Monday.
But the Taliban have upped assaults on Afghan forces even as the USincreases diplomatic efforts, with thousands of people displaced byfighting.
Civilians continue to face “extreme levels of harm”, a recent UN reportsaid, with 8,050 people killed or wounded in the January to Septemberperiod this year. – APP / AFP
