After delaying tour twice, Zalmay Khalilzad to reach Islamabad today

WASHINGTON (92 News) – After delaying the tour twice, US Secretary of State's Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad will reach Islamabad on Wednesday. Khalilzad will be accompanied by United States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells and will meet senior civil and military leaders during his visit. The US envoy will meet Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and hold delegation-level talks at the Foreign Office regarding the Afghan peace process and talks with the Taliban and the US Army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, who met Taliban representatives last month in Abu Dhabi, traveled to Afghanistan as well as China and India as part of the four-nation trip which ends January 21. Khalilzad said: “The only solution to the conflict is for all parties to sit together and reach an agreement on the political future of Afghanistan with mutual respect and acceptance.” His trip comes after President Donald Trump signaled he would bring home half of the 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan as he grows increasingly impatient over America´s longest-ever war. Last week, the US Department of State had announced that Khalilzad is visiting India, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan from Jan 8 for talks to ‘facilitate an intra-Afghan political settlement’.