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Sunday, June 30, 2019, 19:13
Taliban say latest round of talks with US 'critical'
By Associated Press
Sunday, June 30, 2019, 19:13 By Associated Press

In this May 28, 2019 file photo, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. A fresh round of talks between the US and the Taliban began in Qatar on June 29. (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AP)

ISLAMABAD — The seventh and latest round of peace talks between the US and Taliban is "critical," said Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen on Sunday, the second day of talks with Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Mideastern state of Qatar, where the militant group maintains a political office.

READ MORE: Afghan leaders begin peace summit in Pakistan

Shaheen told The Associated Press both sides are looking for "tangible results" as they try to hammer out the fine print of agreements that will see the eventual withdrawal of over 20,000 US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, and end America's longest-running war.

The Taliban have refused a ceasefire until the US withdrawal is complete, saying that to restart their insurgency if the US reneges on its promises could be difficult

The agreements are also expected to provide guarantees that Afghanistan will not again harbor terrorists to carry out attacks worldwide.

The talks began on Saturday and are expected to continue into the next week.

The two sides sat down to negotiate just days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was hopeful of a deal to end Afghanistan's protracted war by Sept 1.

"Getting a comprehensive peace agreement with the Taliban before Sept. 1 would be nothing short of a miracle," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson's Center.

"That said, I could certainly envision a more limited deal being in place by Sept. 1 on a US troop withdrawal, given that there's already been ample progress on this issue."

Pompeo and Khalilzad have both said the final accord will include not only agreements with the Taliban on troop withdrawal and guarantees of a non-threatening Afghanistan, but also agreement on intra-Afghan dialogue and a permanent cease fire.

Until now the Taliban have refused direct talks with the Afghan government while holding two separate meetings with a wide array of prominent Afghans from Kabul, including former president Hamid Karzai, members of the former northern alliance that fought the Taliban during its five-year rule as well as members of the government.

The Taliban have said they will meet government officials but as ordinary Afghans, labeling President Ashraf Ghani's government a US puppet and noting that the US is the final arbiter on their central issue, which is troop withdrawal.

The Taliban have refused a ceasefire until the withdrawal is complete, saying that to restart their insurgency if the US reneges on its promises could be difficult.

But the accelerated pace of negotiations and the sudden announcement of a Sept 1 target date for an agreement could be linked to Afghan President Ghani's insistence on presidential polls scheduled for Sept 28 in Afghanistan, say analysts.

The upcoming elections have been criticized by many of his political opponents who often point to last October's parliamentary polls. The voting was so badly mismanaged that Ghani fired the entire Independent Election Commission, and several of the parliamentary seats are still being contested.

This Feb 8, 2019 file photo shows US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad at the US Institute of Peace, in Washington. (JACQUELYN MARTIN / AP)

A biometric identification system aimed at reducing election fraud was prematurely rolled out for the polls, with the few people trained on the machines not showing up on election day.

While there were incidences of violence during the polling, analysts widely agreed the greatest flaw was the widespread mismanagement and fraud.

ALSO READ: UN envoy: Goal now must be Afghan-Taliban peace negotiations

Khalilzad has also suggested that presidential elections could hamper reaching a peace agreement.

The latest round of talks comes amid heightened expectations that followed Pompeo's optimistic time frame for a pact to end Afghanistan's nearly 18-year war — America's longest-running military engagement.

Also on Saturday, Afghan authorities accused the Taliban of killing at least 25 pro-government forces in northern Baghlan province. The Taliban, who have stepped up attacks in recent months against Afghanistan's beleaguered national security personnel, said the attacks were retaliation for earlier attacks on their fighters.

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