The US Special Representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, has held meetings with Taliban opposition leaders in Istanbul Turkey on Monday.
The US envoy said on Twitter on Monday that he had met “Afghan leaders and members of civil society” to discuss “challenges and the international community’s engagement in Afghanistan.”
Thomas West said: “I heard deep concern about Taliban decisions, especially on the rights of women to an education, work and a future. Another theme was that there needs to be a peaceful way forward. Dialogue is the preferred path, not violence.
“I heard deep concern about Taliban decisions, especially on the rights of women to an education, work and a future. Another theme was that there needs to be a peaceful way forward. Dialogue is the preferred path, not violence.”
Mohammad Karim Khalili, the leader of Hizb e Wahdat, said in a Facebook post that “I expressed my political positions on changing the current abnormal and unjust situation and ways to overcome the existing crises in the country.”
The US envoy also met the former Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and Batur Dostum, the son of Marshal Abdul Rashid Dustom.
On April 15, Thomas West also held a telephone talk with the former president, Hamid Karzai.
