US, Taliban at threshold of Afghanistan deal

KABUL (AFP) – The US and Taliban negotiators are close to a deal that would open the way for peace in Afghanistan, a top US official said on Sunday. Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born US diplomat overseeing negotiations for Washington, said he would travel to the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday for consultations after wrapping up the ninth round of talks with Taliban officials in Qatar. “We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honourable and sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the US, its allies, or any other country,” he said in a Twitter post.

We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honorable & sustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country.

— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 31, 2019

Ultimately, war will only end when all sides agree it must end. All Afghans must come together in intra-Afghan negotiations to achieve a political settlement & comprehensive ceasefire. I am confident we are on the only practical path to reducing violence & achieving peace.

— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 31, 2019

Khalilzad gave no details of the deal, which is expected to see thousands of US troops withdrawn from Afghanistan in exchange for guarantees by the Taliban not to allow the country to be used as a base for militant attacks abroad. Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said both sides were in discussions to finalise technical issues. “We are on the verge of ending the invasion and reaching a peaceful solution for Afghanistan,” Shaheen said on Twitter. The agreement would not on its own end the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces, but would allow the start of so-called “intra-Afghan” peace talks, which are expected to be held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. However, it was not clear whether the Taliban would agree to talk directly with the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani, which they consider an illegitimate foreign-imposed regime. Some Taliban officials have said they would only agree to talk to Afghan officials in a private capacity, not as representatives of the state, and they