Khalilzad: ‘A new date is under discussion’ to start Intra-Afghan negotiations

The Intra-Afghan negotiations have to start as soon as possible, and there has been a discussion of dates, said Khalilzad on Friday.

The US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, in a briefing through a teleconference Friday, told the press that the Intra-Afghan negotiations were the only solution to the problems in Afghanistan, noting that “a new date is under discussion” to get the talks started.

“Although the recent violence has raised questions about the peace process, and the path to peace is not straight and there are challenges and difficulties,” he said, “but there is no alternative to pushing forward with peace.”

He emphasized that there was no military solution to the war in Afghanistan, but a peace agreement among Afghans, adding that “I know that they are tired of war, they want the war to end, and we stand with them,” and the US-Taliban agreement has opened an opportunity to achieve that.

Answering a press question, he said that there were forces that didn’t see peace in Afghanistan in their interests and have been trying to increase violence, to undermine the prospect for peace, and therefore “We’re urging both sides not to fall into that trap, but indeed to cooperate against the terrorists, including ISIS.”

It is noteworthy that on 29th February, the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban for bringing peace to Afghanistan.

As per the February agreement, the Intra-Afghan negotiations – between the Afghan Government and the Taliban – were supposed to start on 10th March.

Unfortunately, there have been challenges, particularly two major ones – prisoner releases and reduction in violence – that have been holding back the talks.