The
Taliban will not attend planned peace talks with the US in
Saudi Arabia this month, and want to shift the venue to
Qatar, Taliban officials said on Sunday, seeking to fend off Riyadh’s push to include the Afghan government in talks.
The upcoming negotiations, the fourth in a series aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, are scheduled between the leaders of the Taliban and US special envoy
Zalmay Khalilzad to discuss the withdrawal of foreign forces and a possible ceasefire in 2019. Leaders of the hardline Islamic militant group have rejected the
Kabul government’s offer for direct talks.
“The problem is that leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE wanted us to definitely meet the Afghan government delegation, which we cannot afford to do now, and we have cancelled the meeting in Saudi Arabia,” a senior Taliban member told
Reuters. The Taliban want to change the venue for the talks to Qatar, he said.