‘US talking to Taliban without pre-conditions’

WASHINGTON: United States Special Adviser to Afghanistan Zalmey Khalilzad has indicated that the Trump administration has moved its position a bit to make headway for a negotiated settlement with the Afghan Taliban.

During an interview with the National Public Radio here on Friday, Ambassador Khalilzad declared that the US was now talking to the Taliban "without insisting on those preconditions," that were placed before. "That's significant," he said. America's vital, critical and important interest is the terrorism issue. "Yes, we are about values, everyone knows what we stand for and we want to see a settlement worthy of the seventeen years of blood and treasure that the US and others sacrificed." Since Ambassador Khalilzad has been critical of Pakistan's position in the past, he was asked how he sees the country's cooperation and if he trusts Islamabad. "It's not about trust, we are talking about international politics," he said, "Pakistan says, now, that it wants to turn a new page, that it wants to help the US with this objective that I outlined, and we will have to see."