Security

Ghani, Khalilzad discuss potential ceasefire with Taliban in Kabul

AFP

President Ashraf Ghani holds talks with US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad (top right of table) December 18 in Kabul. [Afghan Presidential Palace/Facebook]

President Ashraf Ghani holds talks with US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad (top right of table) December 18 in Kabul. [Afghan Presidential Palace/Facebook]

KABUL -- US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad conferred on peace with President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on Wednesday (December 18), an official said, amid a renewed push to reach an accord with the insurgents.

Khalilzad and Ghani discussed several topics including the need for a ceasefire, Ghani spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said.

"The president also expressed his concerns about the continued violence by the Taliban," Sediqqi said.

"The president reiterated that the government and people of Afghanistan want a sustainable peace."

Khalilzad has spent more than a year leading a push for a deal with the Taliban that would see the United States reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan in return for security guarantees from the insurgents.

A US-Taliban deal appeared close September but ongoing Taliban violence, including a Kabul bombing that killed 12 people including an American soldier, scuttled the agreement.

Talks resumed in December, but the Taliban claimed responsibility for a December 11 attack near Bagram Air Base that killed at least two Afghan civilians, including one woman, and wounded at least 73 others.

Following the terrorist act, Khalilzad announced a pause in talks.

"When I met the Talibs today, I expressed outrage about yesterday's attack on Bagram, which recklessly killed two and wounded dozens of civilians," Khalilzad tweeted on a day after the attack.

"Taliban must show they are willing and able to respond to Afghan desire for peace," he tweeted.

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First of all, the president has to think about the borders and then the country will be rebuilt. If he wants to rebuild the country, he should hand over the borders from Iran to China and that with Pakistan to the national army [to completely tighten it] so that a fly would not cross through, then you will see that the fighting will gradually come to an end.

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