<p>PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Despite stepped-up efforts by <a href="/en/pakistan" class="glossify-link">Pakistan</a> Zalmay Khalilzad in Islamabad.</p>
<p>“We want to make it clear that we will not hold any meeting with Zalmay Khalilzad in Islamabad,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a brief statement.</p>
<p>Mujahid’s statement dashed hopes for talks between the visiting US delegation and the insurgent group. Khalilzad and other US officials are in Pakistan for the past two days.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, Pakistani media outlets reported the Taliban had agreed to meet the US delegation and that they would send a 12-member team for talks.</p>
<p>Senior Taliban leaders, meanwhile, acknowledged receiving requests from some regional powers, including Pakistan, for talks with the US delegation and the Afghan government.</p>
<p>But the Taliban are believed to have spurned calls, saying they had repeatedly explained their stance on negotiations with the Afghan government.</p>
<p>“As we know the Afghan government doesn’t have the power to make decisions, why should we waste our time talking to them,” one Taliban leader told The News.</p>
<p>He said the group was ready to continue peace talks with the US if only the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, a prisoners’ swap and the lifting of travel restrictions on rebel leaders were on the agenda.</p>
<p>On Friday, when he held talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Khalilzad said he awaited concrete progress on Afghan peace talks.</p>
<p>After talks with Qureshi, the diplomat tweeted he had a “good meeting” in which “the important role regional countries like Pakistan have in helping deliver peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan” was discussed.</p>
<p>mud</p>
