Taliban says progress made at Afghan talks in Moscow but no breakthrough
Taliban
A Taliban official said on Thursday that decent progress had been made at talks with a group of senior Afghan politicians in Moscow but that there had been no breakthrough and that further talks would be needed, Russian news agencies reported.
The delegation, led by chief Taliban negotiator Mullah Baradar Akhund, met politicians, including senior regional leaders and candidates challenging President Ashraf Ghani in this year`s presidential election amid gathering diplomatic efforts to end the 18-year war.
Thedelegation that met a group of senior Afghan politiciansin Moscow on Tuesday, insistedthat international forces must leave Afghanistan for peace to be agreed.
TheTaliban, ousted by US-backed forces weeks after September11, 2001, attacks on the United States, refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate.
Mohammad Karim Khalili, head of the High Peace Council, the main body charged with pursuing peace efforts, said dozens of people were being killed in fighting every day and it was time for a "dignified and just mechanism" to end the bloodshed.
Talibanofficials have been talking to USdiplomats for months about the terms of withdrawal of more than 23,000 US and NATO coalition troops from Afghanistan and have reached a draft agreement on some issues but no new date for the next round of talks has been set and many obstacles remain.