Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah about attempts to negotiate a peace agreement with the Taliban and the importance of reducing violence, the State Department said on Tuesday in a readout of the call
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2019) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone with Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah about attempts to negotiate a peace agreement with the Taliban and the importance of reducing violence, the State Department said on Tuesday in a readout of the call."The Secretary also thanked CEO Abdullah for his efforts to promote an Afghan peace process, including the importance of a reduction in violence and intra-Afghan negotiations between Afghans and the Taliban," the readout said.
In addition, Pompeo thanked Abdullah for supporting the release of Taliban hostages Kevin King and Timothy Weeks, professors at American University in Kabul, after three years as hostages, the readout added.
The prisoner swap last month, which included three Taliban prisoners held by Afghanistan, was widely portrayed as an effort to restart stalled peace talks.
In September, President Donald Trump declared the peace talks dead and scuttled a tentative deal to bring Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Taliban leaders together at Camp David for talks after the group claimed responsibility for an attack that killed an American soldier.
