Long War Journal
Thomas Joscelyn
Oct. 13, 2018
In a statement released today, the Taliban confirms that its representatives met with a team of American negotiators in Doha on Oct 12.
The Americans’ stated goal for the nascent talks is to have the Taliban reach a political settlement with the Afghan government. However, the Taliban recently rejected Afghanistan’s elections, calling for attacks to disrupt them. And the Taliban has consistently rejected President Ashraf Ghani’s government as illegitimate.
The group does not mention the current Afghan government in its message today. Nor does it say that Ghani had any representatives at the talks.
Instead, the jihadists again refer to themselves as representatives of the Taliban’s “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan†— the regime they seek to resurrect across Afghanistan.
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https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/10/taliban-confirms-meeting-with-us-delegation-in-doha.php
