Afghanistan: US envoy meets Taliban to reduce violence

US envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad returned to Qatar to meet with the Taliban and urge them to "fully" respect their agreement with the United States and to reduce violence "immediately" .

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Ambassador Khalilzad, chief US negotiator of the historic agreement signed on February 29 by Washington and the rebels after more than 18 years of war, left on Tuesday to travel to Doha, New Delhi and Islamabad, announced on Wednesday the department of 'US state in a statement. In Doha, he "will meet with the Taliban representatives to urge them to fully respect the agreement between the United States and the Taliban," added American diplomacy.

Throughout his tour, Zalmay Khalilzad will "urge support for an immediate reduction in violence, an acceleration of the timetable for the start of inter-Afghan negotiations and cooperation among all parties to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in Afghanistan " The agreement paved the way for the start of the gradual withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, which is to run until July 2021.

If Washington has started to disengage, the counterparts are not all respected: the Taliban have stopped their attacks against the American army, but have redoubled violence against the Afghan forces, and unprecedented direct peace negotiations between the rebels and the Kabul government, supposed to start on March 10, has still not started.