Taliban and US representatives will hold a new round of negotiations in the Qatari capital of Doha beginning on June 29, the militant group confirmed on Sunday. The date for the negotiations aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the prolonged Afghan conflict was confirmed in a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been leading the talks on the US side, had announced the date and venue of the fresh round of talks on Saturday, adding that based on his recent visits to both Afghanistan and Qatar, "I believe all sides want rapid progress."
The talks will be the eighth round of discussions between the US and the Taliban. Khalilzad tweeted that "faster progress" is needed in negotiations with the Taliban following the end of the seventh round of talks, which kicked off at the beginning of last month. The "pace" of the talks was not "sufficient when so much conflict rages and innocent people are dying," Khalilzad said. The Taliban had called the results of the talks "positive." Mujahid said at the time that "progress" had been made on some points while others had "yet to be finalized."