Taliban dismisses seeking dialogues with Afghan government, a ceasefire during ongoing Qatari meet with US

The Taliban has on Friday denied they were holding discussions over a ceasefire and talks with the Afghanistan government during an ongoing series of dialogues with the United States in Doha, Qatar.

According to Dawn news reports, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that “this phase is about fleshing out the details of the two issues … the withdrawal of all occupying forces from Afghanistan and not allowing” the nation to be used as a base for international militancy.

Mujahid described them as the “external” aspects of a 17-year-long conflict. He further added, “Other issues that have an internal aspect and are not tied to the United States … have not been held under discussion.”

The US state department spokesperson Robert Palladino had on Tuesday affirmed the opposite.

Palladino said, “What we’re focusing on are the four interconnected issues that are going to compose any future agreement,” while terming them as “terrorism”, “ceasefire”, “intra-Afghan dialogues” and “troop withdrawal”.

Palladino asserted progress has been made aimed at Afghan peace processduring discussions between the officials of both the sides – the Taliban and the US.

The latest round of talks, believed to be among the longest held between Washington and the militants, began on Feb 25 in the Qatari capital.

Source: https://www.theindianwire.com/world/taliban-denies-hold-ceasefire-talks-afghan-during-us-meeting-109056/