The United Arab Emirates government said on Wednesday that reconciliation talks it hosted in Abu Dhabi between the United States and the Taliban produced “tangible results.”
The two days of meetings aimed at ending Afghanistan’s 17-year conflict were attended by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
The “US-Taliban reconciliation talks” produced “tangible results that are positive for all parties concerned,” state-run WAM news agency said.
A new round of talks in Abu Dhabi is being planned “to complete the Afghanistan reconciliation process,” WAM said without providing further details.
The meetings are the latest in a series of diplomatic efforts being made as Washington seeks a way to extricate the US military from the Afghan conflict, which began with the US invasion in 2001.
US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said he had “productive” meetings in the UAE with Afghan and international partners “to promote intra-Afghan dialogue towards ending the conflict.”
Khalilzad tweeted that he met with Pakistani officials on Wednesday to brief them, before traveling to Kabul to meet Afghan leaders.
An Afghan negotiating team traveled to Abu Dhabi for “proximity dialogue” with the Taliban in preparation for face-to-face meetings, presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said Tuesday.
– with reporting by Agence France-Presse