US envoy returns after Taliban-Afghan talks scuttled

The US envoy negotiating with the Taliban has returned on a marathon trip for talks, despite disappointment after the militants failed to meet with the Afghan government, the State Department said Monday.

Zalmay Khalilzad left Sunday on a journey that will run through May 11 and take him both to Afghanistan and Qatar, the usual venue for talks with the Taliban.

In the Qatari capital Doha, "he will continue to press forward on negotiations with the Taliban to reach a consensus on core national security issues, and urge their participation in an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue," a State Department statement said, without directly confirming he would meet again with the Taliban.

Despite several rounds of talks with Khalilzad, the Taliban have refused to negotiate with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's internationally recognized government.

Hopes for a breakthrough last weekend were dashed when a dialogue planned between the Taliban and Afghan officials in Doha collapsed at the last minute.

Ghani had announced a delegation of some 250 people from all walks of Afghan life, including government figures, but the Taliban rejected the lengthy list, saying the meeting was "not an invitation to some wedding or other party at a hotel in Kabul."