Fight will continue if Taliban chooses to fight, says US special envoy

Salaam Times

KABUL -- Bringing peace to Afghanistan requires the Taliban to sit down with the Afghan government and other Afghans, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said Wednesday (January 16), TOLOnews reported Wednesday.

Regional countries also have a consensus on requiring the Taliban to hold direct talks with other Afghans, Khalilzad, who is on his third trip in four months to Afghanistan and some other regional countries as part of his efforts to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban, told Afghan journalists in Kabul.

"The road to peace will require the Taliban to sit with other Afghans, including the government," he said. "There is a consensus among all the regional partners on this point."

"If the Talibs [Taliban] want to talk, we can talk. If they want to fight, we can fight," Khalilzad said.

"We hope that the Talibs want to make peace," he added. "But if they do not choose to come to the table, if they choose to continue fighting, the United States will stand with the Afghan people and the Afghan government and support them."

The Taliban warned in a statement Tuesday (January 15) that the group may suspend talks.

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