Taliba­n have long refuse­d to negoti­ate with Afghan govern­ment to end the 17-year confli­ctKABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday the Taliban should ‘enter serious talks’ with his government, after the insurgents and Washington both touted progress during unprecedented negotiations in Qatar last week. “I call on the Taliban to… show their Afghan will, and accept Afghans’ demand for peace, and enter serious talks with the Afghan government,” Ghani said in a nationally televised address from the presidential palace in Kabul. Both the Taliban and the US cited ‘progress’ over the weekend as hopes rise that the length of the negotiations could mean a deal may be in sight which paves the way for Afghan talks. But Afghan authorities have previously complained of being excluded from the talks in Qatar, and warned that any deal between the US and the Taliban would require Kabul’s endorsement. Kabul govt key to peace talks, US says, after Taliban progress“The US insisted in their talks with the Taliban that the only solution for lasting peace in Afghanistan is intra-Afghan talks,” Khalilzad said, according to a statement released by Ghani’s office.

Source: The Express Tribune January 28, 2019 11:15 UTC