US special envoy for Afghanistan to visit Kabul and Doha

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Kabul, Doha and the capitals of other countries in the region to discuss further prospects for talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban. On Sunday, February 28, this was reported on website US State Department.

“He will resume discussions on the way forward with (the authorities) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghan leaders, representatives of the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) and the countries of the region whose interests are best served by achieving a just and lasting political settlement, and also a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire, ”the message reads.

On February 26, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a press conference following talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, said that Russia was ready to resume the Moscow format of consultations on Afghanistan. Moscow will continue its efforts in contacts with the expanded troika – Russia, the United States, China and the connection of Pakistan, Lavrov added.

On February 18, it became known that the NATO defense ministers at a video conference did not make a decision on the withdrawal of alliance troops from Afghanistan by May 1. In November 2020, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO did not intend to completely withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, despite the US decision to reduce its military contingent there.

In 2020, in Qatar, the United States and representatives of the radical Taliban movement banned in Russia signed the first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war. It provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and the beginning of an inter-Afghan dialogue after the prisoner exchange deal.



source https://pledgetimes.com/us-special-envoy-for-afghanistan-to-visit-kabul-and-doha/