US, Taliban in talks to end 鈥榣ongest鈥 war
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The seventh and latest round of peace talks between the US and the Taliban is 鈥渃ritical,鈥 Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said yesterday, the second day of talks with Washington鈥檚 peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the militant group maintains a political office.
Shaheen said both sides are looking for 鈥渢angible results鈥 as they try to hammer out the fine print of agreements that will see the eventual withdrawal of over 20,000 US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, and end America鈥檚 longest-running war.
The agreements are also expected to provide guarantees that Afghanistan will not again harbor terrorists to carry out attacks worldwide.
The talks began on Saturday and are expected to continue into this week.
The two sides sat down to negotiate just days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was hopeful of a deal to end Afghanistan鈥檚 protracted war by September 1.
鈥淕etting a comprehensive peace agreement with the Taliban before September 1 would be nothing short of a miracle,鈥 said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson鈥檚 Center.
鈥淭hat said, I could certainly envision a more limited deal being in place by September 1 on a US troop withdrawal, given that there鈥檚 already been ample progress on this issue.鈥
Pompeo and Khalilzad have both said the final accord will include not only agreements with the Taliban on troop withdrawal and guarantees of a non-threatening Afghanistan, but also agreement on intra-Afghan dialogue and a permanent ceasefire.
Until now the Taliban have refused direct talks with the Afghan government.
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