Taliban delegation meets China’s special envoy for Afghanistan

Beijing [China]: A Taliban delegation met China’s special representative for Afghanistan Deng Xijun in Beijing to discuss peace efforts in the war-torn country, the insurgent group said on Monday.

This comes weeks after US President Donald Trump called off negotiations with the group in the aftermath of a Kabul terror attack.

During the discussions, Xijun said the “the US-Taliban deal is a good framework for the peaceful solution of the Afghan issue” and expressed support for the same, according to a tweet by Taliban spokesman in Qatar Suhail Shaheen, as cited by Al Jazeera.

The 9-member Taliban delegation was led by the group’s co-founder Mullah Baradar, the tweet added.

Meanwhile, Spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry Geng Shuang said on Monday the delegation and ministry officials exchanged views on the “process of advancing peace in Afghanistan”. He did not give any further details.

The meeting has come ten days after the Taliban delegation held talks with Russian officials in Moscow.

The US and the Taliban had held nine rounds of peace talks in Doha, aimed at ending the 18-year- long war in the country.

Days after an agreement was reached upon between the two sides “in principle”, Trump called off the peace talks with the group in the wake of the Kabul terror attack which claimed 12 lives, including that of an American soldier.