{"id":867396,"date":"2021-10-11T09:58:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T13:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=867396"},"modified":"2021-10-11T09:58:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T13:58:57","slug":"us-officials-call-talks-with-taliban-candid-and-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-officials-call-talks-with-taliban-candid-and-professional\/","title":{"rendered":"US Officials Call Talks With Taliban \u2018Candid and Professional\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-officials-call-talks-with-taliban-candid-and-professional%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=867396&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-10-11T002934Z_1_LYNXMPEH9A00L_RTROPTP_3_AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters)\u2014The United States said on Sunday the first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>Taliban officials since the hardline group retook power in Afghanistan was &#8220;<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">candid&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">and&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">professional<\/span>&#8220;<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>that the U.S. side reiterated that the Taliban would be judged on their actions, not just their words.<\/p>\n<p>State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. delegation at the weekend talks in Doha, Qatar, focused on security<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>terrorism concerns<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>Afghans, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>girls in all aspects of Afghan society.<\/p>\n<p>He said the two sides also discussed &#8220;the United States\u2019 provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The discussions were<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;candid&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">and&nbsp;<\/span><span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">professional&nbsp;<\/span>with the U.S. delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words,&#8221; Price said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>It did not say if any agreements were reached.<\/p>\n<p>The foreign ministry in Kabul said the two-day meeting went well. It welcomed the U.S. offer of humanitarian assistance<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>said local authorities would facilitate delivery<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>cooperate with aid groups but said such assistance &#8220;should not be linked to political issues&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Detailed discussions were held during the meeting about all relevant issues.<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;And&nbsp;<\/span>efforts should be exerted to restore diplomatic relations to a better state,&#8221; the ministry said in a statement, adding that similar meetings would be held in future if required.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television quoted Afghanistan&#8217;s acting foreign minister as saying that Taliban representatives asked the U.S. side to lift a ban on Afghan central bank reserves.<\/p>\n<p>It said the minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, also said Washington would offer Afghans coronavirus vaccines<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>that the two sides discussed &#8220;opening a new page&#8221; between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p>Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday the U.S. delegation would press the Taliban to release kidnapped American Mark Frerichs. Another top priority would be to hold the Taliban to their commitment not to allow Afghanistan to again become a hotbed for al Qaeda or other extremists.<\/p>\n<p>The Taliban took back power in Afghanistan in August, almost 20 years after they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion for refusing to h<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">and&nbsp;<\/span>over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. officials said the weekend meeting was a continuation of &#8220;pragmatic engagements&#8221; with the Taliban<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>&#8220;not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy&#8221; to the group.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials say they are in contact with dozens of Americans<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>legal permanent residents who wish to leave Afghanistan<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>there are thous<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">and<\/span>s of U.S.-allied Afghans at risk of Taliban persecution still in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Washington<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>other Western countries are grappling with difficult choices as a severe humanitarian crisis looms large in Afghanistan. They are trying to work out how to engage with the Taliban without granting the group the legitimacy it seeks, while ensuring humanitarian aid flows into the country.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Moataz Abdelrahiem in Cairo, James Mackenzie in Islamabad; Editing by Ross Colvin, Peter Cooney<span class=\"highlight\" data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/span>Raju Gopalakrishnan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters)\u2014The United States said on Sunday the first face-to-face meeting between senior U.S.\u00a0and\u00a0Taliban officials since the hardline group retook power in Afghanistan was &#8220;candid\u00a0and\u00a0professional&#8221;\u00a0and\u00a0that the U.S. side reiterated that &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-867396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}