The United Nations (UN) will hold multilateral talks with the Afghan government and representatives of the Taliban (banned in Russia). This is reported by Reuters, citing sources.
The talks will take place in Qatar, as before. It is reported that during a visit to Doha, the UN head's special envoy to Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, will meet with her American counterpart, the US special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad. The latter managed to visit Pakistan, Afghanistan and Qatar in a week.
It is believed that this meeting can decide the future fate of the long-term format of negotiations on Afghanistan in Doha, although until they led to significant results, the United States did not give up hope of achieving mutual understanding between the parties.
In late January, the Pentagon's assistant chief for public affairs, John Kirby, threatened that if the Taliban did not stop the violence, the United States could stop the withdrawal of troops from the country. The United States plans to completely withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 2021. The US Army has cut its military presence in the country in half.
The United States brought troops into Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York.
