KABUL’s political office in Qatar on progress in implementation of the peace agreement between the two sides.

In a series of tweets, the veteran American diplomat said he had three constructive meetings in Doha with Mullah Baradar and other members of the Taliban Political Commission.

Commitments to intra-Afghan negotiations, troop withdrawal and a gradual violence reduction leading to a permanent ceasefire came up for discussion at the meetings.

“All sides have implementation requirements on all fronts including on prisoner releases by the Afghan government and the Taliban,” wrote the special envoy before meeting President Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah in Kabul.

Khalilzad said he also raised the issue of missing Americans Mark Frerichs and Paul Overby as well as concerns about recent Taliban attacks in Kunduz, Ghazni, and Khost.

“We discussed their (Taliban’s) concerns with President Ghani’s ordering offensive attacks,” said the diplomat, who visited Doha before visiting Kabul.

“On violence, I told the Taliban violence by all sides must fall. Innocent Afghans have borne far too much and for too long the costs of this war,” the ambassador tweeted.

Khalilzad claimed the Taliban expressed their commitment to the agreement and its implementation. They promised doing all they could to locate US citizens, he concluded.

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