Talks at impasse as Taliban seek direct negotiations with US

The Afghan government's surprising new peace offer to Taliban is immediately running into a wall as the militants show no sign of shifting from their demand that talks for a conflict-ending compromise take place with Washington, not Kabul, a media report says.

Top Afghan security officials, who maintain back-channel discussions with Taliban, say formal talks are impeded by Taliban's insistence that their regime, ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001, remains Afghanistan's legitimate government, Associated Press reported on Sunday.

The new offer by the administration of President Ashraf Ghani includes incentives for militants that join negotiations and enter the political mainstream.

Ghani announced at an international conference in Kabul last week that the government would provide passports and visas to Taliban members and their families and work to remove sanctions against Taliban leaders. The group could also set up an office.

Meanwhile, US officials have conveyed messages to Taliban's political representatives in Qatar, urging the group to join talks with the Afghan government.

Alice Wells, America's top diplomat for South Asia, endorsed the overture and said the "onus" was on Taliban to demonstrate they are ready to talk "not to me or the United States, but to the sovereign and legitimate government and people of Afghanistan."

The militant group on February 28 called for direct talks with the United States in a declared bid to find a “peaceful solution” to the war in Afghanistan.

Last month, Taliban urged the "American people" to press their government to withdraw from Afghanistan. "America must end her occupation and must accept all our legitimate rights including the right to form a government consistent with the beliefs of our people."

SS