Kabul: Representatives from Afghanistan, the United States and Russian Federation in a meeting, called on Taliban to include a durable cease fire in the peace negotiations with the government supposed to begin within a couple of weeks in Qatar.

The Russian and American representatives welcomed the release of Taliban prisoners during the meeting, asking the group to reciprocally release government troops they hold.

The meeting was held on Monday, according to a statement released Tuesday by the ministry of foreign affairs.

The statement said that acting foreign minister Hanif Atmar, the US envoy for Afghan peace Zalmay Khalilzad and Russia’s envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov talked during a video conference.

The meeting also called on the Taliban to reduce violence in order to build trust at the beginning of the talks. Washington and Moscow also welcomed both Kabul and Taliban for showing interest in the talks.

“The Afghan government offer for a monitoring mechanism to assess reduction in violence is a positive cooperation,” the meeting said.

President Ghani’s office has said that the first session of the meeting with Taliban would be held soon in Qatar.

Khalilzad has also said that the region and the world support peace efforts in Afghanistan.

http://www.afghanistantimes.af/kabul-moscow-washington-urge-taliban-again-for-ceasefire/