Efforts underway to determine ‘time & place’ for Intra-Afghan talks

The Afghan Presidential Palace says that the time and place for holding the Intra-Afghan talks will be determined soon.

According to the presidential spokesman, the main focus of the talks between the President and the Chairman of the National Reconciliation Council with the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the Special Envoy of Qatar to Afghanistan was to determine the time and place for the talks.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for peace in Afghanistan, following his meeting with the Taliban in Doha and Pakistani officials in Islamabad, met President Ghani, Abdullah Abdullah, Hamed Karzai, and some other political figures and discussed steps before the start of the Intra-Afghan talks.

“It’s too early to tell when and where the talks will take place. I am looking forward to sharing the information with you in the coming days,” said presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

This comes as President Ghani in his recent statements in the Atlantic Council said that the time and place of the Intra-Afghan talks will be determined next week.

“If they decide to hold talks in Doha, we are ready to speed it up,” said Motaliq bin Majid al-Qahtani, Qatar’s special envoy to Afghanistan, after his meeting with the president and chairman of the National Reconciliation Council. “We will do so neutrally and transparently, in accordance with the international law.”

The Intra-Afghan talks are expected to take place in mid-June.

Russia’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said that representatives of Russia, the United States, and Afghanistan would discuss how to hold the Intra-Afghan talks at a tripartite meeting next Monday.

“By releasing the prisoners, we are trying to maintain a significant reduction in violence or an undeclared ceasefire so that we can move forward with important steps in the peace process,” said Afghan presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

Earlier, during a visit to Kabul, the Pakistani Chief of Army Staff assured of his country’s cooperation in the peace process; the Afghan government sees the process of the talks as constructive, but it expects Pakistan to take practical steps in the matter.

On the other hand, General Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command, emphasizes that full withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan by spring next year depends on conditions that he believes have not been met yet.

According to him, there is no assurance that the attacks against the US will end.