Prospects for U.S.-Taliban talks rise after Afghan ceasefire

KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects have risen for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called a ceasefire and allowed militants to roam into cities in a gamble to encourage peace talks.

The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led troops, insist that any negotiations with what it calls the “puppet” Afghan government on a peace plan can begin only after talks with the United States about withdrawing foreign forces.

Analysts and Western diplomats said Ghani’s offer to hold unconditional peace talks set the stage for U.S. officials to open back-channel negotiations with the Taliban.

“Ghani has done his bit,” said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank.

“It is now for the U.S. to cut through this blockade,” he said, although that would be a departure from U.S. policy that talks to end the 17-year-old war must be wholly Afghan-led.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared ready to tweak the policy when he welcomed Ghani’s 10-day extension of a ceasefire that is currently due to end on Wednesday. The Taliban said its ceasefire ended on Sunday.

“As President Ghani emphasized in his statement to the Afghan people, peace talks by necessity would include a discussion of the role of international actors and forces,” Pompeo said. “The United States is prepared to support, facilitate and participate in these discussions.”

Richard Olson, a former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, described the statement as significant “in that it signals that the U.S. is prepared to ultimately discuss the issue that is paramount to the Taliban, which is the withdrawal of foreign forces.”

Nolen Johnson, a State Department spokesman, said Ghani had invited the United States to “participate in an Afghan-led peace process,” and there was no substitute to the Taliban engaging with the “sovereign” Kabul government.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the start of the ceasefire, said, however, there were a number of issues that made direct talks between the Taliban and the United States unlikely in the short term. - Read More

Prospects for U.S.-Taliban talks rise after Afghan ceasefire

After Afghan ceasefire gamble, prospects rise for U.S.-Taliban talks

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