U.S., Taliban Qatar Talks Continue Focus on Two Key Issues

The United States and the Taliban representatives continued their highest-level negotiations yet on foreign troop withdrawals and counter-terrorism on Sunday, sources close the peace negotiations said.

 The Taliban sources said that the U.S. and Taliban officials were close to reaching into a preliminary draft of peace agreement.

 The sources added that both sides still debating on American troops’ withdrawal and a guarantee that Afghan territory will not be used for hostile acts against the U.S. and its allies.   

“They [Americans] want more time for troop pullout and evacuation of [military] bases, while the Taliban ask for U.S. withdrawal in short space of time. They didn’t reach into an agreement on this issue yet,” a source close the peace negotiation said.  

Earlier, sources told Ariana News that the U.S. officials have proposed a plan to the Taliban which upon the U.S. will leave Afghanistan over the next three to five years.

However, Taliban representatives have not agreed on the plan and asked for U.S. withdrawal within six to 12 months.

“If foreigners don’t leave Afghanistan and don’t reach into an agreement in this regard, all of the ongoing peace efforts will be failed and talks will not yield results,” a second Taliban source said.