A Taliban delegation plans to hold the next round of talks with US representatives on February 25, a spokesman for the Taliban political office in Qatar said Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2019) A Taliban delegation plans to hold the next round of talks with US representatives on February 25, a spokesman for the Taliban political office in Qatar said Wednesday."Next time [we will meet on] February 25 with the American team," Suhail Shaheen told reporters at the intra-Afghan talks in Moscow.
Shaheen added that the Taliban had not intention to discuss the formation of an Afghan government with the United States as it would have undercut the country's sovereignty.
"They are not talking about the formation for government in Afghanistan. If they talk with us about the formation of government in Afghanistan then we are not free, we do not have a sovereign government," Shaheen stressed.
The United States and Taliban held latest talks in Qatar in late January, agreeing in principle on a framework of a deal, as US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad told The New York Times. According to the envoy, the Taliban agreed to "do what is necessary" to ensure that Afghanistan cannot become a platform for terrorists in exchange for the withdrawal of US troops.
Taliban representative Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi, in turn, said at the intra-Afghan talks earlier on Wednesday that the United States had promised to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April.
The intra-Afghan talks, initiated by the Afghan diaspora in Russia, were held in Moscow on February 5-6. They brought together a number of Afghan politicians, representatives of Afghan diaspora in different countries and a Taliban delegation. The Afghan government's delegation is absent from the talks.
