US envoy to embark on four-nation visit

Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad will travel to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar with an interagency delegation from November 8 to 20.

He will meet with Afghan government officials and other interested parties to advance the goal of an intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations that include the Taliban and lead to a sustainable peace, the US State Department said in a press release.

It added that "a sustainable peace requires that all Afghans have a say in their country's future."

On his last trip to the region in October, Special Representative Khalilzad had called on the Afghan government and the Taliban to organise authoritative negotiating teams. He has been encouraged to see that both parties are taking steps in that direction.

"The United States remains committed to a political settlement that results in an end to the war and to the terrorist threat posed to the United States and the world. A peaceful Afghanistan can play a catalytic role in regional trade and development," the State Department said.

For the past several years, Washington has been trying to persuade the Taliban to come to the negotiating table and formulate a peace process to end the 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan. However, the group asserted that the presence of foreign troops in the war-torn nation was a hindrance to achieving long-lasting peace.