Taliban's Top Negotiator Meets With Pompeo Via Video Conference - Spokesman

Taliban's Top Negotiator Meets With Pompeo Via Video Conference - Spokesman

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th August, 2020) Mullah Baradar Akhund, the Taliban's political deputy and chief negotiator, talked with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo via a video conference to discuss intra-Afghan negotiations, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Monday.

"This evening, Mullah Baradar Akhund, the deputy chief of political affairs and the head of the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [the Taliban], and his accompanying delegation talked with the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, via video conference to discuss the beginning and ongoing status of inter-Afghan talks," Shaheen tweeted.

According to the spokesman, Akhund and Pompeo said that the mutual release of prisoners by the Afghan government and the Taliban "was important," while the US official also praised a ceasefire, announced by the Taliban during the celebrations dedicated to the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday.

The United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February that stipulated a phased 14-month troop withdrawal period and a ceasefire between both sides, effectively ending the confrontation which began in 2001. The US-Taliban agreement also envisioned a mutual release of prisoners between the Kabul administration and the militant group, and the beginning of the intra-Afghan talks.