Planned visit of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani to United States has been suspended. During US visit Afghanistan president Ghani was to discuss the US-Taliban talks on ending America’s longest war. Visit suspension step came after the US envoy negotiating with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, abruptly returned to Qatar for unexpected talks with the insurgents on the deal that he had described as complete just days ago. The Taliban maintain a political office in the Gulf Arab state. The agreement “in principle” to begin a US troop withdrawal only needed President Donald Trump’s approval, Khalilzad had announced on Monday.
The report said the president was originally due to travel to Washington on September 7 with a delegation for talks with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, on September 9.
The development emerged after the U.S. envoy negotiating with the Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, briefed Afghan officials in Kabul on an agreement “in principle” the two sides had reached following nine rounds of talks in Qatar.
On September 5, reports said Khalilzad abruptly returned to the Qatari capital, Doha, for more talks with the militant group.
The Taliban has so far rejected negotiations with the Afghan government, seeing it as a puppet of the United States.
While U.S. and Taliban negotiators appeared to be closing in on an accord to end the fighting, the militant group has been stepping up operations across Afghanistan in recent days.
Afghanistan Prez Ghani suspends US visit to discuss Taliban deal
