Seventh Round of US-Taliban Talks to Begin on June 29

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, said in a tweet on Saturday that the seventh round of the U.S. dialogue with the Taliban will begin on June 29th in Doha.

“Based on my recent visits to Afghanistan and Qatar, I believe all sides want rapid progress,” tweeted Khalilzad.

In this round of the negotiations, the Taliban is expected to focus on the timeline of the foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan while the U.S. team will focus on a ceasefire and intra-Afghan dialogue.

“If the Taliban and the United States do not reach an agreement, there is a huge possibility that the talks will face a deadlock,” said Nazar Mohammad Motamein, a pro-Taliban political commentator.

The Afghan government has always said that intra-Afghan dialogue is the only way for peace agreement but the Taliban has so far denied to sit with Ghani’s government, calling it a puppet regime.

“We demand the U.S. and the Taliban to agree on an intra-Afghan dialogue in their seventh round of talks as the problem will only be solved this way,” said Ghafoor Ahmad Jawid, the Spokesperson for the High Peace Council.

This comes the U.S. officials have said that they will not withdraw from Afghanistan unless they are assured that Afghanistan cannot be a threat to Washington and its allies.