Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, held unannouncedtalks with the Taliban peace negotiators in Doha, capital of Qatar, to urgea reduction in violence across Afghanistan, AP reported.
Gen. Milley met for about two hours with the Taliban negotiators on Tuesdayand flew Wednesday to Kabul to discuss the peace process with PresidentGhani, the report said.
“The most important part of the discussions that I had with both theTaliban and the government of Afghanistan was the need for an immediatereduction in violence,” Milley told three reporters, including one from theAP, who accompanied him to Qatar and Afghanistan. “Everything else hingeson that.”
Under ground rules set by Milley for security reasons, the journaliststraveling with him agreed not to report on either set of talks until he haddeparted the region, according to the report.
It was Milley’s second unannounced meeting with the Taliban’s negotiatingteam; the first, in June, also in Doha, had not been reported until now,said the AP.
The AP also reported that Gen. Scott Miller, the top commander of US andcoalition forces in Afghanistan, said in an interview at his militaryheadquarters in Kabul on Wednesday that the Taliban have stepped up attackson Afghan forces, particularly in the southern provinces of Helmand andKandahar, and against roadways and other infrastructure.
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“My assessment is, it puts the peace process at risk — the higher theviolence, the higher the risk,” Miller said. Miller meets at least once amonth with Taliban negotiators as part of Washington’s effort to advance apeace process.
In Kabul, President Ghani met with Gen. Milley on Wednesday evening, thePresidential Palace said, adding: “Both sides expressed their concerns overthe escalation of violence in Afghanistan and discussed the Afghan peaceprocess and the immediate need for a ceasefire.”
Gen. Milley also met Chief of Army Staff Gen. Mohammad Yasin Zia and otherAfghan officials.
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