Afghans should Not Let ‘Opportunity for Peace Slip Away’: Khalilzad

Ghani and US envoy, including Miller, discussed the “latest” on the Afghan peace negotiations, which apparently have come to a deadlock on agreeing the procedural rules to hold the intra-Afghan talks on peace in the country.
“General Miller and I affirmed ongoing U.S. support to Afghanistan, our partnership, and a peace process meant to produce a political settlement and an end to decades of war,” said Khalilzad in a tweet Tuesday morning.
“I told the President Afghans should not let the opportunity for peace to slip away,” he added. “He said he supports the Islamic Republic negotiators doing their work as long as it takes. I said I’m encouraged by what I heard from all sides, including the two teams’ commitment to peace.”
The United States supports an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process and remains ready to assist, calling on “all nations, especially the neighbors and other key players, to do the same.”


Addressing the ongoing threats against civilians throughout Afghanistan, Khalilzdad said, “a significant reduction in violence will save lives; increase trust; broaden support for peace; and help the negotiating teams make progress at a faster pace.”

[EARLIER: ‘Ghani Meets Afghan Negotiators in Doha’]
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in an official trip to Kuwait and Qatar, met with peace negotiators of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Doha, after meeting Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the new Emir of Kuwait, on Monday.
Ghani’s trip raised a mix of reaction among critics who said he might meet the Taliban in Doha. But this claim was rejected by the republic’s negotiators.
“The problems that we face, and the issues that remained unsolved, are not related to the trip of the president, but the host countries can make efforts to convince the other side to finalize the procedural rules,” said Ghulam Farooq Majroh, an Afghan negotiator, as TOLOnews quoted.
“The president’s trip is not related to the negotiations. It is an official trip between Afghanistan and Qatar,” said Nader Nadery, another Afghan negotiator. 
Ghani is due to meet United States special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. Scott Miller, the top commander for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.