Kabul, Sep 2: US special representative for Afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has on Monday met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in capital Kabul to brief him about the United States’s peace negotiations progress with the Taliban, the insurgent group, as the militants launched attacks on the weekend over Afghan security forces in various provinces of the nation.
Ghani’s spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi confirmed the talks were held on Sunday night at the presidential palace, shortly after Khalilzad arrived from Doha, the Qatari capital, following the ninth round peace talks’ conclusion with the Taliban, according to Al-Jazeera news reports.
Over the weekend, Khalilzad sais the Taliban and the US were “at the threshold of an agreement” – even as the conflict between the US-backed Afghan forces and the militant group in the northern part of the nation intensified.
On Sunday, the Taliban attacked Baghlan province’s capital Pul-e Khumri, a day after hundreds of militants overran regions of Kunduz – a disputed province.
Afghanistan’s local media on Monday reported assaults were still ongoing in Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, Balkh, Farah, and Herat provinces. The Baghlan-Kunduz and Kabul-Baghlan highways were blocked since the attack on the weekend on Baghlan and Kunduz provinces.
In the midst of high expectations, the Taliban-US negotiations will put an end to the 18-year-old Afghan civil war and crisis, the latest assaults have noted the militant’s apparent determination to pursue any agreement from a strong position on the battlefield.