U.S. Envoy Reveals Fresh Details of Qatar Talks

The U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Thursday revealed fresh details of his six days of talks with the Taliban representatives in Qatar.

“The path to peace doesn’t often run in a straight line,” Khalilzad said in a series of tweets. ” The situation in Afghanistan is complex and like all sensitive talks, not everything is conducted in public..”

Khalilzad stressed that they have made significant progress on two key issues including counter-terrorism and troop withdrawal, following this week’s Qatar talks.

“We made significant progress on two vital issues: counter-terrorism and troop withdrawal. That doesn’t mean we’re done. We’re not even finished with these issues yet, and there is still work to be done on other vital issues like intra-Afghan dialogue and a complete ceasefire,” he tweeted.

“Skeptics have rushed to judgment based on just the first part of a much larger effort, as though we have a completed agreement. But you can’t eat an elephant in one bite! And a forty-year-old war won’t be resolved in one meeting, even if that meeting runs for close to a week,” he said.

According to Khalilzad, the opportunity being provided for ensuring peace in Afghanistan should not be missed.

“This is a moment for Afghans to begin to heal old wounds and chart a new course for their country There are many players, many issues, and many moving parts,” he said.

The envoy, however, said that they are on the right path, “together”, referring to the U.S. President Trump’s tweet in which he said that Afghanistan talks are “proceeding well”.

This comes as President Ghani said that no agreements would be concluded without the government’s full participation.

“Our commitment is to provide peace and to prevent any possible disaster,”Ghani said. “There are values that are not disputable, such as national unity, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”

He said the key to peace is in Afghanistan, but the key for war is in Islamabad, Quetta, and Rawalpindi.

Separately, a spokesman of Ghani has quoted the president as saying that if someone thinks he can force Ashraf Ghani to sign another treaty of Gandamak, he is wrong.

“We want neither Shah Shujah nor Amir Mohammad Yaqub Khan who have signed Gandamak treaty, but we want Amanullah Khan, Ahmad Shah, and Mahmoud Ghaznawi,” Shah Hussain Mortazavi, the deputy spokesman to the presidency quoted Ashraf Ghani as saying on Thursday.