Russia Sees Need for Resumption of US, Taliban Talks

"The Russia side stressed the necessity of the resumption of talks between the United States and the Taliban movement. Taliban, in turn, reiterated its readiness to continue dialogue with Washington," the spokesman told Tass on Friday.

Mohammad Sohail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) Qatar office, said earlier on Friday the Taliban delegation had met with Russian president’s special envoy for Afghanistan and director of the Russian foreign ministry’s second Asia department, Zamir Kabulov, to discuss recent development around the peace process in Afghanistan.

US President Donald Trump tweeted last week that following the terror attack in Kabul he had canceled his meetings with the Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani originally planned to be held in Camp David on September 8.

Later, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told NBC that US envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had been recalled to Washington. In an interview with Fox News, Pompeo said he hoped peace consultations would be resumed but did not say when it could be done.

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