U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by phone on Saturday with Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani over the trapped peace talks between Afghan leaders and the Taliban, the U.S. State Department said on Sunday.
Pompeo voiced the United States’ disappointment over the postponed intra-Afghan dialogue, spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Pompeo called for an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue to be convened in the Qatari capital of Doha “as soon as possible,” the statement added.
The intra-Afghan dialogue had been slated for April 19-21 in Doha to find a negotiated settlement to Afghanistan’s protracted war and civil strife. But the dialogue was abruptly postponed on Thursday reportedly amid an eruption of internal disputes and Taliban complaints about the composition of the Afghan government delegation.
