US Offer to Join Peace Talks Removes any Justification for Taliban: Wells
A senior State Department official said Saturday that US offer to join peace talks and discuss the future of international troops in Afghanistan had removed any justification for the Taliban’s refusal to negotiate with the Afghan government.
A senior State Department official said Saturday that US offer to join peace talks and discuss the future of international troops in Afghanistan had removed any justification for the Taliban’s refusal to negotiate with the Afghan government.
Ambassador Alice Wells, the senior bureau official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State, explained that American leadership desires decisive moves in the peace talks.
She made the remarks while talking to reporters during a visit to Kabul. Her remarks were made on Saturday but embargoed for release on Sunday.
Wells is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad today on an official visit to meet top Pakistani officials,
“Increasingly, I think it’s becoming unacceptable for the Taliban not to negotiate,” she added.
The US official said the Taliban leaders residing outside Afghanistan pose a hindrance to the United States-led Afghan peace process.
“Right now it’s the Taliban leaders, and frankly it’s Taliban leaders who aren’t residing in Afghanistan, who are the obstacle to a negotiated political settlement,” said Wells.
