Taliban peace talks

A top Afghan government official on Thursday blasted the Trump administration's peace talks with the Taliban, accusing a U.S. presidential envoy of shutting out the Kabul government and betraying the trust of a close ally. "We don't know what's going on. We don't have the kind of transparency that we should have," Hamdullah Mohib, Afghan national security adviser, told reporters during a visit to Washington. Asked if President Donald Trump's envoy for reconciliation in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was consulting the Afghan government on his talks with the Taliban insurgents, Mohib said: "No. We get bits and pieces of information." He added: "The last people to find out are us." The commanders of Afghan security forces were deeply concerned about the situation, Mohib said. "How am I supposed to convince them that they are not being sold out?" The Afghan government was asked to send a negotiating team to recent talks in the United Arab Emirates to take part in possible three-way … [Read more...] about Trump envoy is selling out Afghanistan in Taliban peace talks: senior Afghan official

WASHINGTON — The United States and the Taliban now have a draft agreement on two thorny issues that signals concrete progress towards a peace deal to end the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan, U.S. presidential envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday. After two weeks of talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, the top U.S. diplomat overseeing negotiations with the Taliban said the two sides have hammered out a draft agreement on the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a commitment from the insurgents to cut all ties with al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. "Peace requires agreement on four issues: counter-terrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a comprehensive ceasefire," Khalilzad said in a series of tweets. "In January talks, we 'agreed in principle' on these four elements. We're now "agreed in draft" on the first two," the U.S. diplomat wrote, referring to promises from the Taliban to sever links to terrorists and from the U.S. to pull out … [Read more...] about U.S., Taliban peace talks yield draft deal on 2 issues, Trump envoy says

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan will not attend peace talks hosted by Russia, two senior government officials said Wednesday, a decision that could make Moscow reconsider its plan to invite the Taliban to a multinational conference to discuss the future of the country. The conference scheduled for Sept. 4 is aimed at bringing Taliban representatives to the negotiating table in Moscow. Russia has invited 12 countries, including the United States, to the Moscow talks but Washington has declined the invitation. "We have decided against attending the Moscow conference," said a official working with the foreign ministry in Kabul, adding that the government will "hold direct talks" with the Taliban, without the direct involvement of foreign powers. (Reporting by Rupam Jain; editing by David Stamp) … [Read more...] about Afghanistan will not attend Russia-led peace talks with Taliban

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan hopes Russia can press Taliban insurgents into holding peace talks with the government, Afghanistan's top security official said on Wednesday after he met Russia's ambassador in Kabul. The Taliban, fighting to oust U.S. and other foreign forces and defeat Afghanistan's Western-backed government, plan to take part in talks on Afghan peace in Moscow on Sept. 4, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Afghanistan's national security adviser, Hanif Atmar, told Russia's ambassador that Afghanistan appreciated Russia's support for the peace process and called upon it "to put pressure on Taliban insurgents to begin negotiations with the Afghan government", Atmar's office said. The Taliban this week rejected a government offer of a three-month ceasefire and said they would press on with their war, two insurgent commanders told Reuters, after a series of militant attacks in which hundreds of people have been killed. Russian … [Read more...] about Afghanistan seeks Russian help to press Taliban into peace talks