Afghan government and Taliban insurgents remain far from reaching a peace deal, US envoy to negotiations says, as Washington ups pressure on Kabul to reach an agreement
"At this point, they are demanding that they take the lion's share of power in the next government, given the military situation as they see it," says special US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in bleak assessment of Doha peace process.
Afghan-born veteran US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad's bleak assessment of the peace process coincides on Tuesday with Taliban advances on provincial capitals that have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians as the US troop pullout nears completion after 20 years of war. Blinken and Ghani also "condemned the ongoing Taliban attacks and displacement of the civilian population," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The Taliban contends that Ghani's government "is the result of military occupation" and they want an agreement on a transitional government and constitution, Khalilzad continued. Since the United States announced plans in April to withdraw its troops with no conditions by September 11 after nearly 20 years of conflict, violence has escalated throughout the country as the Taliban seeks more territory.
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