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Pompeo speaks over phone with Afghan president on peace talks

Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 26 Jul 2019, 07:10 am Print

Pompeo speaks over phone with Afghan president on peace talks

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Washington (Xinhua/UNI) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke over phone on Wednesday with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on efforts to end war in Afghanistan, said the US State Department on T

The two sides agreed that "now is the time to accelerate efforts to reach a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan," according to a statement released by the State Department.

Pompeo told Ghani that Washington remains committed to "a conditions-based drawdown" of troops, said the statement.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad have been sent to Kabul to discuss in detail "the next steps on the road to peace," the statement added.

During Dunford's stay, Afghanistan's capital Kabul witnessed three bloody blasts on Thursday, leaving 11 dead and 45 injured.

Although the Afghan officials put the attacks on the "enemies of peace," a reference to the Taliban militants, the armed outfit has claimed responsibility for only one of the blasts, claiming the militant group targeted the US-led foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The United States maintains some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, largely providing training missions to local Afghan forces while also conducting counterterrorism operations against terror groups.