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Pakistan Says Visiting US, Taliban Negotiators to Hold Direct Talks

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistan says that visiting U.S. and Taliban delegates will
   hold a direct bilateral meeting to discuss resumption of peace talks
   aimed at ending to the nearly two decades of conflict in neighboring
   Afghanistan.
   Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while making the announcement
   told reporters Islamabad is optimistic the stalled U.S.-Taliban
   dialogue will resume soon.

   But U.S. President Donald Trump appeared non-committal.

   "We have a real problem," Trump said Thursday morning responding to
   VOA's question about whether he will revive talks with the Taliban.
   "We've been hitting the Taliban very, very hard. And as far as I'm
   concerned, they still haven't recovered from killing 12 people, one of
   them happens to be a great American soldier from Puerto Rico. They
   still have not recovered, and they probably never will," he added.

   Trump was referring to Sgt. First Class Elis A. Barreto Ortiz, whose
   death by a suicide car bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan, claimed by the
   Taliban upended the peace talks in September.

   Qureshi expressed optimism after holding official talks in Islamabad
   with a high-level delegation of the Taliban insurgency, which arrived
   in the Pakistani capital the previous day.
   Qureshi noted that the U.S.-Taliban dialogue had almost finalized a
   peace deal in nine long rounds of meetings before the process broke
   down nearly a month ago.
   "Pakistan is trying to help restart the dialogue process to bring it to
   its logical conclusion," the foreign minister said. "I am happy to
   share with you that I have returned satisfied from my meeting with them
   (Taliban)," Qureshi asserted.

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