Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Taliban Say They Are 'Open' To Fresh Talks With The U.S.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban's chief negotiator, speaks to reporters after talks in Moscow in May.

RFE: Taliban 'Open' To Fresh Talks With U.S. After Deadly Afghan Bombings

The Taliban's chief negotiator has said the "doors are open" to resuming talks with the United States, hours after two attacks claimed by the militants killed at least 48 people in Afghanistan.

Peace talks between the United States and the Taliban meant to reach a deal on the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops collapsed last week after President Donald Trump cited an attack that killed a U.S. soldier as his reason for calling off negotiations. The talks did not include the Afghan government.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai told the BBC that the insurgents had done nothing wrong by continuing to fight throughout the talks. Stanikzai said the Americans had also admitted to killing thousands of Taliban during the discussions.

"From our side, our doors are open for negotiations," he was quoted as saying.

Read more ....

Update #1: Taliban: Our door is open to new talks with Donald Trump (The National)
Update #2: Afghanistan war: Taliban tell Trump their 'doors are open' (BBC)

WNU Editor: The "peace talks" are definitely dead. The Taliban's refusal to talk to the Afghan government coupled with their continuing close ties with the Al Qaeda .... In Afghanistan, Taliban’s Ties to al-Qaida Unchanged (VOA), means that these negotiations have a long way to go before their is any resolution to the conflict.

2 comments:

Bob Huntley said...

The "resolution to the conflict" may well be to leave the Afghans to deal with their issues as they always have, and likely always will. In their annals of history the presence of international invaders are simply blips in their normal resolution process.

Bob Huntley said...

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