The Taliban and the Afghan government are far apart in U.S.-backed talks on bringing peace to the country, with the insurgents demanding “the lion’s share of power” in a new government and Kabul wanting to bring them into the current government, the special U.S. envoy on Afghanistan said on Tuesday.
Afghan-born veteran U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad’s comment coincides with Taliban advances on provincial capitals as the U.S. troop pullout nears completion after 20 years of war.
“At this point, they (the Taliban) are demanding that they take the lion’s share of power in the next government given the military situation as they see it,” Khalilzad told the Aspen Security Forum in an online conference.