Afghanistan Times
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“Inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue essential to advance pace push”
AT News Report
KABUL: The US and Russian Special Envoy for Peace in Afghanistan have backed and agreed all-inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue which is essential to advance the current peace efforts, where the next round of talks between US official and Taliban representative probably to take place on 25 February in Qatar.
“To move forward, Afghans should name a unified, inclusive and national negotiating team that includes the Afghan government and other Afghans,” Zalmay Khalilzad told his Russian counterpart Zamir Kabulov during meeting held in the Russian Embassy in Turkey.
“We also agreed that any final agreement must guarantee that Afghan soil is never used by international terrorists against any country. Also discussed a potential regional framework to coordinate efforts for peace and deter spoilers,” he added.
Russian’s Ambassador to Turkey Aleksey Yerhov and other officials from the two countries were present in the meeting. The closed-door meeting lasted over one hour.
Khalilzad would soon to meet Taliban members in Doha, and likely take the issue of prolong ceasefire and direct talks with the Afghan government with the Taliban negotiating team. Taliban time and again rejected meeting Afghan officials to kick off an inclusive intra-Afghan peace talks. According to Afghan officials, only intra-Afghan talks can bear fruits.
