*ISLAMABAD – The Afghan Taliban have conditionally agreed to dialogues inIslamabad. *
Sources said that Afghan Taliban had refused to directly hold dialogueswith the United States of America. The *Afghan Taliban* have agreed totalks on condition of inclusion of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “Thedate for the talks is being fixed and it will be soon announced,” theyadded.
The sources said that the Afghan Taliban are ready to hold talks with theUS on the pattern of *Abu Dhabi*. “Pakistan had conveyed the US proposal tothe Afghan Taliban,” they disclosed.
On Thursday, Afghan President *Ashraf Ghani* thanked Pakistan for its helpin pushing forward peace talks with the Taliban as diplomatic effortscontinued to keep the process on track.
US special envoy *Zalmay Khalilzad*, who has been leading efforts to brokeran agreement with the Afghan Taliban, is in Pakistan following meetingswith Ghani and other Afghan officials in *Kabul*.
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Last week, Washington had said it welcomed Islamabad’s actions to promote anegotiated solution to the war in neighbouring Afghanistan. “The UnitedStates welcomes any actions by the Pakistani government to promote greatercooperation, including fostering negotiations between the Taliban, theAfghan government, and other Afghans,” a US embassy spokesperson in Kabultold Voice of America.
The acknowledgement had come a day after Pakistani *Prime Minister ImranKhan* announced that the country had arranged another round of US peacetalks with the Afghan Taliban.
The meetings come as diplomatic efforts to resolve the Afghan conflict haveintensified, although the Taliban have so far refused to deal directly withthe Western-backed government in Kabul, which it considers illegitimate.
