The Afghan Taliban says it has restarted peace talks with the United States. The U.S. government has confirmed that it has made its first formal contact with the Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban group said Saturday (March 6) that U.S. Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and Deputy Taliban Political Chief Abdul Ghani Baradar led their respective teams to begin peace talks in the Qatari capital of Doha Friday evening.
Khalilzad arrived in Doha from Afghanistan. He had previously held three days of consultations with Afghan government officials, civil society leaders and other political figures on the Afghan peace process.
A U.S. State Department official confirmed to Voice of America Friday that the Biden administration had its first formal contact with the Taliban group.
A Taliban spokesman said the commander of Afghanistan’s foreign forces, U.S. Army Gen. Scott Miller, accompanied Khalilzad to the talks.
The Taliban spokesman said, “The two sides expressed their commitment to the Doha agreement and discussed its complete implementation. The current situation in Afghanistan and the pace and effectiveness of intra-Afghan negotiations were also discussed.”
The U.S. and Taliban signed an agreement in the Qatari capital in February 2020 that calls for the U.S. military and Taliban to refrain from attacking each other, for the Taliban to sever ties with terrorist groups that threaten U.S. and allied interests, and to discuss political power-sharing with the Afghan government.
In exchange, the U.S. pledged to withdraw the remaining 2,500 troops and forces from all NATO-led partner nations in May of this year.
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