KABUL (TCA) — A Taliban negotiating team and US delegates, who continue their talks in Doha, have not yet reached any common understanding or agreed on a joint document, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on March 3, Russia’s Sputnik news agency reports.
“The current round of talks in Doha are advancing on a step-by-step basis. As the issue at hand is immensely crucial and delicate, its progression is taking place with that much care and vigilance. The talks during January saw an agreement regarding withdrawal of occupying forces and preventing Afghanistan from being used against others, but this round of talks are about the details and nature of these two issues. It should be mentioned that no understanding has so far been reached about any agreement or document,” Mujahid wrote on Twitter.
The new round of the US-Taliban talks kicked off in Doha on 25 February. Three days later, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad described the talks as productive, adding that the sides would take the next two days for internal deliberations and resume talks on Saturday.
The previous round of the US-Taliban talks in January resulted in a framework for a future agreement under which the radical movement is ready to guarantee it will not harbor al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan in return for ending US military presence in the country.
The United States and the Taliban movement have been engaged in talks on the possible withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. A State Department spokesperson told Sputnik in February that no timeline for a possible reduction of US troop levels in Afghanistan had been agreed yet with the central government.
