A senior Taliban official said Saturday that there are no obstacles in relations between the Taliban and the United States that cannot be resolved, framing recent visits by American delegations to Kabul as the start of a new phase in talks.
Zakir Jalali, third political director at the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry and a close aide to Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, wrote on X that the presence of former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the American delegation had eased the process. Jalali said Khalilzad and Taliban negotiators had previously endured two years of “difficult and challenging” talks, adding that meaningful progress was likely if both sides were willing to resolve issues.
His remarks came after Adam Boehler, former US envoy for hostage affairs under Donald Trump, arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit. Boehler met with Muttaqi and Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Khalilzad accompanied Boehler on the trip, as he did on an earlier visit.
In a statement, the Taliban Foreign Ministry said the talks covered prisoners in both countries, ways to expand bilateral relations, citizen issues, investment and other opportunities in Afghanistan.