No Agreement Reached with Taliban on US Pullout

The US State Department’s Special Envoy on Afghan peace process ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul after six-day breath-taking talks with Taliban in Qatar.

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The US State Department’s Special Envoy on Afghan peace process ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul after six-day breath-taking talks with Taliban in Qatar.
US envoy Khalilzad briefed president M. Ashraf Ghani details of peace talks on Sunday night, according to a statement released by the presidential palace (ARG). Senior members of the NUG were present at the meeting as well.

Zalmay Khalilzad, besides briefing government officials, has denied any inaccurate information and rumors published by domestic and international media outlets about talks with the Taliban in Doha.
“There has been no discussion about the future structure of Afghanistan’s system with the Taliban,” he said.
“The issue of interim government is completely incorrect and that’s not within my qualification. My mission is to pave the ground for intra-Afghan dialogue,” he added.
Mr. Khalilzad underlined that the Taliban only discussed a ceasefire, but no progress has been made yet.

According to Mr. Khalilzad, during the meeting with Taliban, America emphasised that the only solution to lasting peace is intra-Afghan dialogue.
“Taliban want US withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the US side has not yet agreed with them in this regard. If any decision would be made about the troops withdrawal, it would be done in coordination with the Afghan government,” Khalilzad said.
Khalilzad will meet Taliban group to pursue the remaining issues, especially whether they will decide on intra-Afghan talks.

President Ghani thanked Khalilzad for sharing the details and appreciated US efforts in beginning intra-Afghan talks.
The remarks by Mr. Khalilzad comes as many media outlets have recently reported US – Taliban agreements.