Taliban negotiators to meet US officials in Islamabad on Monday

KABUL on Wednesday said their peace negotiating team will hold talks with the US representatives in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, on Monday (Feb 18) ahead of their planned new round of talks in Qatar.

The Taliban’s newly announced 14-member negotiating team will also meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

He said Pakistan had formally requested the Monday talks and the negotiations in Doha would resume on Feb 25 as agreed in the previous meetings.

Mujahid said the Taliban team would discuss Afghanistan-Pakistan relations and problems being faced by Afghan refugees and traders in the neighboring country with the country’s leadership.

US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who is on a six-nation trip to discuss the Afghan peace process, on Tuesday met with EU and NATO partners in Brussels and said their shared purpose is to reach a peace agreement and not a withdrawal agreement

 “Our shared purpose is to reach a peace agreement (not a withdrawal agreement) that is worthy of the sacrifices made over decades of war,” Khalilzad tweeted.

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