A US delegation and a Taliban negotiating team may hold a new round of talks in the Pakistani capital on Monday in a bid to contribute to the Afghan crisis settlement and negotiate a possible US troop pullout
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2019) A US delegation and a Taliban negotiating team may hold a new round of talks in the Pakistani capital on Monday in a bid to contribute to the Afghan crisis settlement and negotiate a possible US troop pullout.
The announcement of the talks was made by the Taliban office last week, with the spokesman not revealing possible participants. A US State Department spokesperson, however, said on Thursday that Washington had "not received a formal invitation to any talks."
Meanwhile, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad continues his foreign diplomatic tour to facilitate a peace process in the crisis-torn country, with Pakistan being among the expected stops of the trip.
The United States and the Taliban movement have been engaged in talks on possible withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. During the latest talks in Qatar in late January, the two sides agreed in principle on a framework of a deal, as 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.
Earlier in February, a State Department spokesperson told Sputnik that no timeline for a possible reduction of US troop levels in Afghanistan had been agreed yet with the central government.
