WASHINGTON: United States makes yet another desperate attempt to end thelongest war of US history in Afghanistan
The US negotiator whose talks with the Taliban was halted by PresidentDonald Trump is meeting with Russia, China and European allies on endingAfghanistan’s war, the State Department said Monday.
Zalmay Khalilzad left Sunday on a trip to Brussels, Paris and Moscow as helooks for “how best to support accelerated efforts to reach peace inAfghanistan,” a State Department statement said.
In Moscow, he will meet his Russian and Chinese counterparts to “discussshared interests in seeing the war in Afghanistan come to an end,” it said.
Khalilzad, a veteran US diplomat who was born in Afghanistan, led a year oftalks with the Taliban to seek a deal that would see the United Stateswithdraw most of its troops and end its longest-ever war.
Trump said in September that he had invited Taliban leaders to meet butthen withdrew the invitation and ended the talks after an attack killed aUS soldier.
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Despite not reaching an agreement, General Scott Miller, who leads US andNATO forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that the United States had pulled2,000 troops from Afghanistan over the past year.
The United States has contentious relations with both Russia and China, butKhalilzad has repeatedly consulted the rival powers and appeared to findcommon ground on Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union fought then US-backed Islamic guerrillas in a disastrousintervention in Afghanistan in the 1980s, while China is keen to preventany spread of extremism.
