Taliban reject direct talks with Afghan government

The Taliban said on Sunday they will not hold direct talks with Afghan government and rejected a statement from a senior minister about plans to hold the such as meeting within the next two weeks, a senior Taliban official said. "Intra-Afghan talks will start only after a foreign force withdrawal is announced," said Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar.

On Saturday, Abdul Salam Rahimi, the state minister for peace affairs, said the government would be represented by a 15-member delegation during direct talks with the Taliban "in the coming two weeks".

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