Afghanistan

Afghanistan: US-Taliban talks in Islamabad ‘postponed’, says Taliban

FILE PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATION.

Talks between US negotiators and Taliban members in Islamabad supposedly to be held on February 18, Monday were postponed, Taliban said in a statement on Sunday, TOLOnews reported.

The statement said that Taliban was prepared for the talks but most negotiators the group could not attend the meeting as they are on the US and United Nations blacklist, as per the report.

The group rejected the reports which say the talks were postponed by the Taliban.

This arrives after reports came in that said that the Taliban would hold talks with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad. In their statement on Sunday, they did not mention anything regarding such reports.

In the report, officials said Sunday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged complained with the UN Security Council on a planned meeting between Taliban representatives and the Pakistani prime minister, calling it a clear violation of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty.

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The Afghan government said that the Taliban officials invited to Pakistan are blacklisted by the UN and have a travel ban against them, adding that this was a clear violation of UN and international law.

On February 7, the Afghan government lodged a similar complaint with the UN over a recent trip by members of the Taliban to Moscow.

The Afghan government said that Russia allowed the group’s members to enter the country despite them being on the UN’s blacklist.

Led by Taliban’s chief negotiator Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, ten senior officials from the group traveled to Moscow for talks with Afghan politicians.

The meeting in Moscow took place on two days, February 4 and 5, after which a joint declaration was announced by the delegates in which they outlined a nine-point approach to promote “intra-Afghan” dialogue aimed at finding a political settlement to the conflict in the country, the report stated.

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