The Afghan Taliban said on Saturday that the US needs to announce a time-frame for the complete withdrawal of troops from the country in order to find a political solution to the conflict.
Talking to Arab News, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for Taliban’s Qatar office said that the two sides had made progress during the sixth round of talks in May, but failed to strike a deal as the Taliban wanted the US to first set a date for the pullout.
Ahead of a new round of talks in Qatar – the date for which has yet to be announced – US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, will travel to Doha as “part of an overall effort to facilitate a peace process that ends the conflict in Afghanistan,” excerpts from a statement released by the US State Department on May 31 read.
“In Doha, he will continue talks with the Taliban to move the peace process forward,” it added.
Shaheen said he is hopeful that all issues would be resolved during the latest round of talks, wherein both sides are expected to reach an agreement.
“But the ball is in the US’ court as they are to decide a time-frame for withdrawal of the foreign troops. They will decide the dates…with consent of all sides and to publicly announce it. This will solve the foreign aspect of the problem,” Shaheen said, adding that the date for a complete “withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan will be on the top of agenda.”
He added that the withdrawal will pave way for discussions on other issues as well. “When the US announces a time-line, we will give them commitment that Afghan soil will not be used against any country,” he said.
Khalilzad has been urging the Taliban to agree to a cease-fire and start direct talks with the Afghan government – a suggestion which has been rejected by the insurgents. “It needs more time. There had been some progress in the sixth round and we expect more progress in the seventh round (of talks),” Shaheen said.
Throwing light on an intra-Afghan dialogue – which was scheduled to take place in April but was postponed due to a controversy over participants – Shaheen said that the talks will be held after the next meeting with US representatives.
“The meeting was postponed because Kabul administration at that time, however the meeting is planned but no date has been decided as yet,” he said.
The Taliban, for their part, claim that they are discussing only two issues with Khalilzad – the withdrawal of foreign troops and to prevent Afghanistan from being used against the US, its allies and any other countries.
