The commander of US forces and the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan Gen. Scott Miller said that the war in the country will continue until a political settlement.
“This fight will go until a political settlement,” Miller said as quoted by CNN when asked whether the Afghan campaign against the Taliban had reached a stalemate.
“These are two sides that are fighting against one another, and neither one of them will achieve a military victory at this stage,” he said.
In the same interview, the US ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass concurred with Miller’s assessment, cautioning that US and Afghan officials will face a complicated diplomatic situation given the Taliban’s aggressive rejection of the current administration in Kabul.
“We have an opportunity today that we didn’t have six or 12 months ago to see if it’s truly possible to achieve that political settlement,” Bass said as quoted by CNN. “We don’t know if we’re going to be successful. We have to see if the Taliban is interested in responding to the deep desire of the Afghanistan people for peace.”
The Afghan government on Wednesday said that Kabul will send a peace delegation as US and Taliban representatives prepare to attend the fourth round of peace talks in Jeddah in January.
Although the Taliban previously rejected to talk with the Afghan government delegation during the meetings in Abdu Dhabi, but Afghan government says they are keen to send a peace delegation to Jeddah.
“Whenever there is a need for it, we will send our delegation and will express our intention,” said Fraidoon Khazon, deputy spokesman for Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
So far, representatives of US, Russia, Qatar, UAE and Pakistan have held a series of talks with the Taliban, but Kabul has been pushing for its regional and international allies to convince the Taliban to engage in direct talks with it, something the Taliban has said will never happen.
