WASHINGTON: The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban has returned on amarathon trip for talks, despite disappointment after the militants failedto meet with the Afghan government, the State Department said Monday.
Zalmay Khalilzad left Sunday on a journey that will run through May 11 andtake him both to Afghanistan and Qatar, the usual venue for talks with theTaliban.
In the Qatari capital Doha, “he will continue to press forward onnegotiations with the Taliban to reach a consensus on core nationalsecurity issues, and urge their participation in an inclusive intra-Afghandialogue,” a State Department statement said, without directly confirminghe would meet again with the Taliban.
Despite several rounds of talks with Khalilzad, the Taliban have refused tonegotiate with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s internationally recognizedgovernment.
Hopes for a breakthrough last weekend were dashed when a dialogue plannedbetween the Taliban and Afghan officials in Doha collapsed at the lastminute.
Ghani had announced a delegation of some 250 people from all walks ofAfghan life, including government figures, but the Taliban rejected thelengthy list, saying the meeting was “not an invitation to some wedding orother party at a hotel in Kabul.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced disappointment over the impasseduring a call on Saturday with Ghani.
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Pompeo “encouraged all sides to seize the moment and reach an understandingon participants, so that an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue can be convenedin Doha as soon as possible,” State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagussaid.
President Donald Trump is eager to reach a solution to end the longest-everUS war, which dislodged the Taliban following the September 11, 2001attacks.
The Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told AFP that the upcomingtalks would focus on a timetable for pulling all foreign forces fromAfghanistan.
Khalilzad on his trip will also visit four other countries with deepinterests in Afghanistan — Pakistan, India, Russia and Britain. – APP/AFP
