US in Contact With Taliban in Qatar for Peace Talks

All we are saying… Is give peace a chance.
taliban office
The Taliban agreed to have a political office in Qatar for peace talks with the Afghan government and the international fraternity. (Pajhwok)

According to Afghan media the Obama Administration is in contact with the Taliban in Qatar for peace talks.
Press TV reported:

Afghan media reports say the United States is in contact with the Taliban in Qatar to persuade the militant group to sit at the negotiating table with the Afghan government.

The talks are aimed at pushing the Taliban toward a negotiated agreement with Kabul as Washington tries to prepare the ground for the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan, Weesa daily cited political analyst, Vahid Mojdeh, as saying.

The US-Taliban talks formally started in January 2012, but the militants left the negotiating table in March, citing Washington’s failure to fulfill the conditions for peace negotiations to proceed.

On Monday, Karzai, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari concluded trilateral talks held in London and vowed to work to reach a peace deal within six months.

In a statement, the leaders also voiced support for the opening of an office in the Qatari capital, Doha, for the Taliban to hold talks. They also urged the militants to join the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, however, on Wednesday dismissed the London talks and said the conference and other “horse trading” were “the real obstacles of effective and fruitful negotiations between the factual sides.”

The Taliban have repeatedly refused to negotiate directly with the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, demanding that any negotiations be held between the militants and the United States.

The Taliban decided in January to move ahead and set up offices in Doha, Qatar.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict would remain President Obama administration’s first option.

The Taliban slaughtered 24 individualse this week in an attack south of Peshawar.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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