KABUL (The Killid) – Hours after the Afghan government’s statement on direct negotiations with the Taliban, the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad clarified talks will take place after the United States “concludes its own agreement” with the Taliban.
On Saturday evening, the State Minister for Peace Abdul Salam Rahimi said direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban will start within the next two weeks and that it will be held in a European country, as local media reported.
However, Khalilzad clarified in a tweet early Sunday “those negotiations will occur after we conclude our own agreements.”
Negotiations “will take place between the Taliban and an inclusive and effective national negotiating team consisting of senior government officials, key political party representatives, civil society and women,” he added.
Lot of chatter in Kabul about intra-Afghan negotiations. To clarify, those negotiations will occur after we conclude our own agreements and… (1/2)
— U.S. Special Representative Thomas West (@US4AfghanPeace) July 27, 2019
Meanwhile, Rahimi said Saturday they have started consultations with different stakeholders on forming a 15-member negotiating team who will lead the peace talks with the Taliban.
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