Taliban and US reject Afghan government claim of direct talks with militant group

Kabul said it would hold first-ever direct talks with the Taliban within two weeks

Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, centre, attends the first day of campaigning in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, July 28, 2019. AP

The Taliban has rejected the Afghan government's claim that it is to hold the first-ever direct talks with the militant group within two weeks.

On Saturday, an Afghan official said that a 15-member government delegation would meet the Taliban in Europe, without elaborating.

"Intra-Afghan talks will start only after a foreign force withdrawal is announced," said Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar.

The Taliban is engaged in peace talks with the US in Doha about a potential peace agreement and its contents. Two other main issues in the peace process are a ceasefire and talks between the rival Afghan sides, or intra-Afghan talks, as they are known.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "there has been no agreement on such a meeting and that has not been co-ordinated with the Taliban". He said that once the insurgents reach an agreement with the US, they would be open to intra-Afghan talks, but any government representatives would have to participate in a personal capacity. The militant group refuses to speak with the Afghan government as it views it as a puppet of the West.

The US also appeared to pour cold water on the idea that there would be direct talks soon between Kabul and the Taliban.

Washington's special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said talks between the Taliban and Afghans would happen after the United States "concludes its own agreement" with the Taliban.

Mr Khalilzad has in recent days been holding meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, opposition leaders, diplomats and civil society members in Kabul before heading to Qatar for the next round of talks with the Taliban.

The Taliban's main demand is that the US and international forces withdraw from Afghanistan. The US wants assurances that the country will not be used as a hotbed for extremism and terror plots abroad.

The Taliban, who effectively control around half the country, have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan security forces.

A Taliban suicide bomber killed four police early Sunday in an attack on a police station in the eastern Ghazni province, according to Ahmad Khan Serat, a spokesman for the provincial police. He said 10 other police officers were wounded.

Elsewhere in Ghazni, a roadside bomb killed three civilians and wounded three others, Mr Serat said. No one claimed the attack, and civilians are often killed or maimed by bombs meant for security forces.

Sunday marked the first day of campaigning for presidential elections scheduled for September 28. Mr Ghani is seeking a second term on promises of ending the 18-year war but has been largely sidelined over the past year as the US negotiated directly with the Taliban.

About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a US-led Nato mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces carry out counter-terrorism operations.