Ninth Round of US, Taliban Talks Ends after Nine Days
The ninth round of US-Taliban talks ended in Doha, the capital of Qatar, after nine days.
The talks ended last midnight in Qatar, and US special envoy for peace Zalmai Khalilzad is scheduled to travel to Kabul.
In a Twitter message, Khalilzad said he would head to Kabul for consultations with Afghan leaders.
Khalilzad said, “We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honorable & sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country.”
He did not provide details on when he would arrive in Kabul.
The ninth round of talks between Khalilzad and armed Taliban representatives began in Doha on Thursday last week.
There were speculations of an agreement on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, a counter-terrorism guarantee by Taliban, intra-Afghan negotiations and a sustained ceasefire at the end of the ninth round.
While the armed Taliban have insisted on the full withdrawal of foreign troops, in recent days, US President Donald Trump has said they have to maintain a number of US troops in Afghanistan.
The ninth round of peace talks ends when the armed Taliban launched a major attack on Kunduz province yesterday and carried out a suicide attack yesterday between security officials and journalists in the province.
