The U.S. State Department will remain committed to the intra-Afghan peace talks despite recent Taliban attacks. “We want to make sure that Afghanistan is never again a place where terrorists have safe harbour and can plan attacks on the United States,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told The Media Line in an interview.

The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, is brokering a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban after the U.S.-Taliban deal was signed in February. Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council of National Reconciliation is representing the Afghan government while Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar is speaking for the group.
Ortagus said they wanted the intra-Afghan peace agreement to be inclusive with the Taliban, the Afghan government, civil society and women present at the table. “You know, you won’t have peace in Afghanistan until you have all of these parties at the table.”
“We know that the end of any conflict is always messy. It’s never a linear path when you’ve been at war for almost 20 years,” said Ortagus. She said the U.S. will continue to call out the Taliban if they ever violate their end of the deal.