Pompeo Holds Separate Meetings With Kabul, Taliban Delegations in Doha

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday he had held separate meetings with the delegations of the Afghan government and the Taliban radical movement on the sidelines of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

"Pleased to meet Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation Chairman [Abdullah Abdullah] and Foreign Minister [Mohammed Haneef Atmar] in Doha at the launch of historic peace negotiations," Pompeo said on Twitter around the afternoon GMT, attaching images form the meeting.

Two hours later, the US secretary of state posted images from the meeting with the Taliban delegation, writing "Met with Taliban Political Deputy Mullah Beradar to welcome the launch of Afghan peace negotiations. The Taliban must seize this opportunity to forge a political settlement & reach a comprehensive & permanent ceasefire to end 40 years of war.

This effort must be Afghan led."

Pompeo arrived in Doha on Friday to personally attend the landmark intra-Afghan talks, marking the first time in two decades that Kabul and the Taliban come around a negotiation table.

The launch of talks was brokered by the US following many rounds of talks with the Taliban which eventually resulted in a historic peace deal between the US and the radical movement on February 29. The key provisions of the deal were that the Taliban and Kabul release each other's prisoners 1,000 and 5,000, respectively and that the radical movement commit to reduce violence, as prerequisites of launching intra-Afghan talks.

The talks, which began on Saturday, are now expected to pave the way for a peace process and withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan after almost two decades of war and insurgency.