Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban said on Wednesday they had wrapped up two-day talks with American officials led by Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where both sides agreed to continue talks to end the conflict in Afghanistan.

The Taliban and Khalilzad did not talk about any decision in the Dec 17-18 talks; however, the US envoy said he had “productive meetings in UAE with the Afghan and international partners to promote intra-Afghan dialogue towards ending the conflict in Afghanistan.”

Khalilzad arrived in Pakistan hours after he concluded talks with the Taliban leaders and met the Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Khalilzad said on twitter he met Pakistan leaders to “update them on the state of play following our meetings in UAE”.

The UAE talks were also attended by senior security officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

A Taliban statement said that the “focal point of discussion was the withdrawal of foreign troops as it was the root cause of all problems and biggest obstacle to peace was the occupation of Afghanistan and bringing it to an end”.

The statement said that the future negotiation meetings shall continue after deliberations and consultations by both sides with their respective leaderships.

Taliban denied reports that the discussions were also held about a ceasefire and talks with the Kabul administration, interim government, elections and other internal matters.

“Talks were also held about humane treatment of prisoners and their freedom, a matter that shall be taken into consideration,” the statement said.

Khalilzad later proceeded to the Afghan capital Kabul to update President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah on his engagements with regional partners and other interested parties to reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan, the US Embassy in Kabul said.

The Taliban did not meet the Afghan government’s officials who were in the UAE despite earlier indications that both sides could meet. However, the participants shared details of the deliberations.

Some sources say that both sides have made some progress on the prisoners’ issue as part of the confidence building measures. The US side demanded release of two US professors, who were kidnapped in August 2016. Taliban later claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

A Taliban official confided to Daily Times that more talks could be held in other countries.

Published in Daily Times, December 20^th2018.