The Taliban said yesterday they had canceled planned peace talks with U.S. officials in Qatar this week over an agenda disagreement.
“Both sides have agreed to not meet in Qatar,” senior Taliban members based in Afghanistan told Reuters.
Talks had been planned for two days starting in Qatar today, but the hardline Islamic militant group had rejected requests from regional powers to allow Afghan officials to take part in the discussion.
The U.S. State Department later announced that U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad would lead an interagency delegation to India, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan from January 8–21 that would meet senior government officials in each country “to facilitate an intra-Afghan political settlement”.
It said Khalilzad continued to coordinate his efforts with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and other Afghan stakeholders.
“The U.S. goal is to promote dialogue among Afghans about how to end the conflict, and to encourage the parties to come together at the negotiating table to reach a political settlement,” the statement by the State Department said.
