US envoy in Taliban talks seeks peace deal before July

Washington, Feb 9 (AFP) The United States is hoping Afghanistan can strike a peace agreement including the Taliban before elections scheduled for July, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has said.

"It will be better for Afghanistan if we could a get peace agreement before the election, which is scheduled before July," the US negotiator told a Washington conference on Friday, adding that there remained "a lot of work" to do.

Ashraf Ghani, who was elected in a fraud-tainted poll in 2014, is seeking a second term in conflict-riven Afghanistan's delayed presidential ballot. (AFP) RHL