KABUL – US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad raised doubts Thursday about theTaliban´s desire to end the 17-year war, after the militants refused tomeet with a Kabul-backed negotiating team.
While he was certain the Afghan government wanted to stop the conflict,Khalilzad told Ariana News that he questioned whether the Taliban were”genuinely seeking peace”.
“We have to wait and see their forthcoming steps,” Khalilzad said accordingto a translation of the interview provided by the US embassy in Kabul.
Khalilzad´s remarks to Afghan media following his latest face-to-facemeeting with the Taliban echoed those expressed privately by some Westerndiplomats in the capital.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan also attended the talks in Abu Dhabi earlier thisweek, which the United Arab Emirates hailed as “positive for all partiesconcerned”.
But the Taliban would not meet with a 12-person Afghan delegation,Khalilzad said, describing the decision as “wrong”.
“If the Taliban are really seeking peace, they have to sit with the Afghangovernment ultimately to reach an agreement on the future politicalsettlement in Afghanistan,” the former US ambassador to Kabul said.
The Taliban have long refused to talk directly to the Afghan government,which the group accuses of being a puppet of the United States.
In a message released Tuesday the militants said they had held “preliminarytalks” with Khalilzad on Monday.
Read Top Stories
They also said they had held “extensive” meetings with officials fromPakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, repeating demands for internationalforces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Those three countries were the only ones to recognise the Taliban´s1996-2001 regime.
The meetings are the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts as Washingtonseeks a way out of the Afghan conflict, which began with the 2001 US-ledinvasion of the country that had harboured Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
While US President Donald Trump wanted to end the war, Khalilzad told ToloNews that Washington´s “main objective” was to ensure Afghanistan did notpose a threat to the United States in the future.
While ruling out a “pre-9/11 situation” in Afghanistan, Khalilzad said hehad told the Taliban that “if the menace of terrorism is tackled, theUnited States is not looking for a permanent military presence” in thecountry.
Khalilzad repeated his desire for a peace deal before the Afghanpresidential election scheduled to be held in April, but added it was up tothe “government and the Taliban”. – APP / AFP
