(Doha) The US envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, underscored the economic potential of a peaceful Afghanistan during talks with the Taliban in Doha.
France Media Agency
The two sides signed an agreement in February, from which the Afghan government was excluded, which aims to withdraw foreign troops from the country in exchange for security guarantees from the Taliban and the start of an inter-Afghan peace dialogue.
At a meeting with the Taliban's political office in Doha, "we highlighted the economic development opportunities that will follow lasting peace," Khalilzad said in a tweet Friday evening.
"We have agreed that it is never too early to develop projects that support peace, knowing that both parties can overcome the last obstacles leading to intra-Afghan negotiations" , he added.
A Taliban spokesman said in a statement that insurgent negotiators had met Adam Boehler, the director of International Development Finance Corporation, an agency of the United States government, about "growth [...], reconstruction and development "in Afghanistan.
The Taliban renewed their commitment to abide by the February agreement in late June, but the Pentagon said this week that it had retained "close" ties to the Al-Qaeda group.
Among the commitments made by the Taliban in the agreement was that of not allowing the country to be used as a refuge by extremist groups.
The Afghan issue has returned in recent days to the United States where several newspapers have reported that Moscow had distributed bonuses to insurgents "close to the Taliban" for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan.
According to these sources, the information was transmitted to Donald Trump, and the National Security Council of the White House discussed it in late March without any action being taken.
Russia and the Taliban have denied this information altogether.
