US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has arrived in Kabul where he plans to hold meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, a source at the presidential palace told RIA Novosti.
Earlier, the U.S. State Department announced Khalilzad’s plans to visit Afghanistan.
“Zalmay Khalilzad has arrived in Kabul and is scheduled to meet with President Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah”, – the source said.
Earlier, Sukheil Shaheen, a spokesman for the radical Taliban political office in Qatar, said the Taliban were ready to release all remaining Afghan captives before Eid al-Qurban Bairam evening and to start inter-Afghan negotiations after the holiday if the prisoner exchange is completed. This year’s Kurban Bairam Sacrifice Celebration is July 31 for Muslims.
For his part, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered the army and law enforcement forces to observe a three-day truce and avoid any operations against the Taliban.
In late February, at a ceremony in Qatar, the U.S. and Taliban signed the first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war, which provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and the beginning of inter-Afghan dialogue in March following a prisoner exchange deal.