Afghan Govt Should Formulate Negotiating Team for Peace Talks – Karen

Karen Decker,  the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul says the step that the Afghan government has to take is to formulate an authoritative negotiating team for peace talks with the Taliban.

Speaking to Ariana News, Karen Decker said that the U.S. has sent a strong signal for reaching a political settlement between the Taliban and the Afghan government by appointing Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation.

“…so the next step the one that the Afghan government is taking now is to formulate an authoritative negotiating team that is ready for political talks with an authoritative negotiating team from the Taliban,” she said.

Khalilzad has recently met with the Afghan government leaders including President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul and briefed them of his scheduled trip to regional countries including Pakistan, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates.

“Starting about a month ago Ambassador Khalilzad is meeting and will continue to meet…” she said.

According to Karen, the U.S. will continue its efforts in the Afghan peace process to ensure direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.   

Regarding the issue of drought which affected many provinces in Afghanistan, Karen said the U.S. has announced an addition $44 million in aid to address the drought issue in the country.  

“The drought is affecting almost the entire country; 20 of the 34 provinces are facing drought and Afghan people are suffering,” she said.