U.S. Envoy Khalilzad in Beijing To Discuss Afghanistan’s Peace Process

July 11, 2019, (EIRNS)—The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted from his post’s official “@U.S.4AfghanPeace” Twitter account July 9 “I had a meeting with the Taliban this morning. Headed to China now and then will return to Washington to report and consult on the #AfghanPeaceProcess.”

Khalilzad had earlier called the latest Doha round of talks with the Taliban the “most productive” yet, and they had been broadened to include a timeline for both intra-Afghan negotiations and a ceasefire. The spokesman for the Taliban’s Qatar office, Suhail Shaheen, also said in a social media post that “we are satisfied with progress & hope remaining points will be finalized soon. We have not faced major obstacle so far,” Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that Washington is hopeful a peace agreement to bring an end to the war can be reached before Sept. 1. Reports in Afghanistan say that both a Taliban delegation and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai had also recently visited Beijing, according to the Washington Post.