DOHA: US and Taliban negotiators are “at the threshold of an agreement” to end 18 years of conflict between them, Washington’s top negotiator said Sunday as he concluded their latest talks.
The foes have been meeting in Doha to conclude a deal under which the Taliban would give security guarantees in return for sharp reductions to the 13,000-strong US force in Afghanistan.
“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,” tweeted Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.
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
Khalilzad added that he would travel to Kabul later Sunday “for consultations” following the end of the eighth and final day of the latest round of talks.
Such a deal would help foster “a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country,” Khalilzad added in his Sunday tweet.
