The Afghan Taliban on Sunday acknowledged that progress had been made in talks held last week in Qatar but denied reaching any agreement with their American interlocutors on a ceasefire and talks with the Afghan government.
In a brief statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the meeting between their political office in Doha and special US representative Zalmay Khalilzad held for six consecutive days had finally come to an end.
“In accordance with the agenda, this round of negotiations revolving around the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and other vital issues saw progress,” he said.
“But since issues are of critical nature and need comprehensive discussions, therefore it was decided that talks about unresolved matters will resume in similar future meetings in order to find an appropriate and effective solution and also to share details of the meetings and receive guidance from their respective leaderships,” the statement read.
It made it clear that until the issue of withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan was agreed upon, progress on “other issues is impossible”.
The statement ran counter to media reports about a “rather definitive” agreement on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
Recently, Taliban has appointed a co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as the leader of their political office in Qatar to lead talks with the United States.
