The U.S. State Department announced late Friday that its Secretary of States Michael R. Pompeo will separately meet the Afghan government and the Taliban negotiating teams in the Qatari capital of Doha Saturday.
Secretary Pompeo will also meet Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and the foreign minister during his stop in Doha.
The visit comes as the negotiating teams from the Afghan government and the Taliban have been meeting since September 12 working out procedural rules needed for the intra-Afghan peace talks.
There are reports, however, claiming the negotiators are approaching to agree upon the procedures and framework of discussions.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Pentagon announced plans to reduce the number of troops from Afghanistan from the current number to 2,500 by mid-January.
President Trump’s Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller said at the Pentagon on Tuesday that about 2,000 troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by January 15.
The troops withdrawal is consistent with a peace agreement the United States struck with Taliban in February in Qatar’s capital of Doha where Secretary Pompeo attended as a witness to the peace deal.
NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has however warned of “high price” for a premature pullout of the U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan.
“We now face a difficult decision. We have been in Afghanistan for almost 20 years, and no NATO ally wants to stay any longer than necessary. But at the same time, the price for leaving too soon or in an uncoordinated way could be very high,” SG Stoltenberg said in a statement.
The country gripped with decades-long war is still witnessing high levels of violence amid peace efforts negotiators from the government and the Taliban are putting in the Qatari capital of Doha.
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