"VAN" (International Desk) :: “The US rejoined talks today in Doha. The focus of discussion will be reduction of violence that leads to intra-Afghan negotiations and a ceasefire,” said the US source.
US peace envoy Zalmai Khalilzad arrived in Doha on Wednesday after meeting Afghan leaders and politicians.
Zalmai Khalilzad met President Ghani, CEO Abdullah Abdullah, Hamid Karzai and some Afghan politicians and public figures in his two-day visit to Kabul.
United States and Taliban had reached to an agreement in September and was at the eve of signing a deal that could led to Intra-Afghan talks between the Taliban and Afghan politicians and leaders, but it was stopped with a surprising tweet of Donald Trump, following an explosion in Kabul that killed 12 people including a senior US official.
President Donald Trump landed in Bagram airfield of Afghanistan in a surprise thanksgiving holiday visit and said the Taliban is ready to ‘make a deal’.
One of the key conditions of the Taliban to make a ‘peace deal’ is the full withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Currently 16,000 foreign troops including 8,000 US soldiers are present under Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan providing technical support to Afghanistan National Defense Security forces.
The role of Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan was discussed at the NATO Leaders Meeting in London, which was held on 3rd and 4th of December.
The NATO Chief, Jens Stoltenberg in a press conference on Wednesday reassured that NATO will continue its supports to ANDSF as the peace talks resume.
“What I can say is that we are committed to continue to support Afghanistan. Because we strongly believe that the best way NATO can support the peace efforts is to train, assist and advise the Afghan security forces so that the Taliban understand that they will never win on the battlefield.”, Stoltenberg said.
Afghanistan government has set ‘Ceasefire’ as a precondition for the peace talks resumption, but the Taliban leaders have continuously said they are not going to talk with Afghan government, calling it ‘US-Puppet’.
Cr :: KP
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