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The US Special Representative for Reconciliation in Afghanistan said that, despite the difficulties and difficulties, he was "cautiously optimistic or optimistic" about facilitating a peace dialogue between Afghans to end 17 years of war.
Zalmay Khalilzad, an American diplomat of Afghan origin, was entrusted Sunday to the press one day after returning to the Afghan capital after three days of marathon talks with Taliban political envoys based in Qatar. He met with Afghan politicians inside and outside the government before traveling to the Gulf nation, where the insurgent group retains its "political post".
"I know the Afghan government wants peace. The Taliban say they do not think they can succeed militarily and that they would like to see the problems that remain solved by peaceful means through political negotiations, "the US envoy noted without giving more details of his meetings with Taliban negotiators.
"I think there is a possibility of reconciliation and peace … I have nothing to announce today, but I remain optimistic or optimistic, given the complexity of the situation. I do not want to underestimate the challenges and I do not want to raise false expectations, "said Khalilzad.
On Saturday, several Taliban sources also said the two sides were optimistic about the process of dialogue with Khalilzad's team.
He would not say whether the Taliban are willing to give up his main demands and insisted that it is up to the Afghans themselves to debate these internal problems when rival parties come to the negotiating table.
"The first thing to do is to select the delegations, to initiate a process of dialogue and, at the end of this dialogue or these negotiations, a result will be obtained, with positive hope, and a sheet of paper. road for the future, "said the ambassador.
The Taliban recently reinforced their team of negotiators in Qatar, while Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held meetings with leaders and representatives of Afghan political parties and civil society organizations on the constitution of the country. a negotiation team.
Khalilzad held two rounds of public talks with the Taliban in more than a month. The Trump administration appointed him to the office in September with the goal of bringing the Afghan government and insurgent group to the negotiating table.
The Taliban said their process of dialogue with Washington aimed to establish a timetable for the withdrawal of all US and NATO troops from Afghanistan in order to pave the way for an intra-state dialogue. Afghan. But the insurgency group has not said whether it would be willing to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, which the Taliban reject as an "American puppet".
"The government is a legitimate and internationally recognized Afghan government. So, I do not see any problem in talking to the government, "said the envoy when asked if he wanted talks between Kabul and the Taliban.
Mr. Khalilzad stressed that "the most important problem facing Afghanistan today is the question of peace", but he denied the words attributed to him that the United States is calling for postponement. Presidential elections on April 20 to allow the peace process to take shape first.
"I hope that the Taliban and other Afghans will use the date of the elections as the deadline for reaching a peace agreement before that date … because the violence will cease, the participation will be broader and the results will be more widely accepted, "he explained.
Ambassador Khalilzad commented a day later that the top US military commander had said that the Taliban "would not lose" in Afghanistan and that political reconciliation, not a military effort, would help end the conflict.
"Our task is to make sure that the Taliban realize that they can not win on the battlefield. They are not losing for the moment. I think this statement is correct, "General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Saturday at a security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"We used the term" dead end "a year ago and relatively speaking, it has not changed much," added Dunford.
He added that continued political and military pressure was being exerted to push the Taliban to the negotiating table.
"Although a lot of things are happening in this regard below the surface, I think we are far from being able to say that we are on the right track," noted the US commander.
