WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th November, 2019) The United States will focus on reducing violence in its negotiations with the Afghan Taliban movement and if successful will broaden the scope of talks to include discussion of a peace deal for the war-torn country, a senior US administration official told Sputnik on Friday.
"As the president said, we are restarting talks with the Taliban. The focus will be on reducing violence," the administration official said. "If an agreement can be reached, the two sides could potentially expand the talks and pave the way for signing of a peace agreement."
US President Donald Trump announced the resumption of talks with the Taliban radical movement on Thursday as he arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit to greet American troops and meet his counterpart Ashraf Ghani. Trump said the Taliban wanted a ceasefire and promised to reduce the US military presence in the country to 8,600 from about 12,000 stationed there now.
