The Trump administration engages with the Taliban as it wants to wind down the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.
A Taliban delegation has met with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar to
discuss ending the Afghan conflict, the armed group said on Saturday, in
the first official confirmation of talks between the two sides.
The meeting with Khalilzad and other US officials took place on Friday
and talks will continue, the Taliban said in a statement emailed to
journalists.
The meeting occured as President Donald Trump's administration pushed to
find a way to end the 17-year-old Afghan war, the Wall Street Journal
previously reported.
The Journal, citing a person familiar with the gathering, said Khalilzad
met with Taliban officials in Doha, the second time in four months that
US officials have held face-to-face talks with Taliban representatives.
Khalilzad's is currently on his first trip as special representative.
The 11-day trip was to take him to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United
Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The State Department declined to say whether the meeting with Taliban officials in Doha took place.
Alice Wells, the State Department deputy assistant secretary for South
and Central Asia, met Taliban officials in Doha in July for what were
described as talks about talks.
A Taliban official who was part of the four-person delegation to that meeting said it produced "very positive signals".
A US-led coalition forced the Taliban from power in 2001 in the
aftermath of the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.
The group has seized a number of districts across the country in recent
years and regularly attack security forces, often killing dozens.
Taliban officials have set the withdrawal of American forces as a pre-condition for peace talks.
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