Saturday’s confirmation of the Saudi role followed a telephone
conversation on Thursday between King Salman and the Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani
Last summer, Saudi Arabia hosted a global conference of Islamic scholars to discuss the Afghan war.
KABUL: The next round of peace talks on Afghanistan will take place in Saudi Arabia, probably in January.
Saturday’s confirmation of the Saudi role followed a telephone
conversation on Thursday between King Salman and the Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani.
Ghani praised the “prominent” Saudi role “in consolidation of peace and
stability in Afghanistan,” and said the next meeting in the Kingdom
would be “a good step and start for subsequent processes.”
He thanked the king for his support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned
peace process, and the king promised to use his offices to consolidate
peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Last summer, Saudi Arabia hosted a global conference of Islamic scholars to discuss the Afghan war.
A spokesman for the Afghan government-appointed High Peace Council said
council members and government delegates are expected to take part in
the January talks.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said discussions were continuing
among the group’s leadership about the meeting’s venue and date.
Two weeks ago, American, Saudi, Pakistani and Emirati officials attended
a meeting in Abu Dhabi to explore ways to end the Afghan war.
At that meeting, the Taliban said it would negotiate directly with the
Afghan government only after the withdrawal of US-led troops from
Afghanistan.
Since then, US President Donald Trump has surprised American allies by
announcing that he intended to halve the number of US troops in
Afghanistan, from 14,000 to about 7,000.
The 17-year conflict in Afghanistan is America’s longest war, and Trump
has long campaigned on bringing US soldiers home. Nevertheless, in 2017
he added 4,000 troops to US forces there in an attempt to speed up the
peace process.
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