WASHINGTON: Afghan Taliban said on Sunday they would meet US officials in Saudi Arabia next month as the Trump administration created more space for its negotiators to manoeuvre by not outlining a pullout plan.

“We will meet US officials in Saudi Arabia in January and we will start our talks that remained incomplete in Abu Dhabi,” a member of the Taliban Leadership Council told Reuters news agency.

Diplomatic sources in Washington said that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who visited Qatar on Sunday to discuss the Afghan peace initiative with Qatari leaders, may also visit Saudi Arabia soon.

Last week, Mr Qureshi wrapped up a whirlwind, three-day tour of Afghanistan, Iran, China and Russia to promote “a regional approach” for resolving the Afghan dispute.

By Sunday, it became clear that the US and Taliban were both marking their positions for the next round of talks in Saudi Arabia. While the US rescinded an earlier plan to recall half of its 14,000 troops from Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Muja­hid said the group wanted to reach an agreement with the US before engaging with the Afghan government.

“We have made it clear to all stakeholders that we will not talk to the Afghan government yet,” he wrote in a message emailed to various media outlets.

Taliban’s move followed a White House statement on Saturday that President Donald Trump had not yet ordered the Pentagon to pull out troops from Afghanistan.

The statement, by US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis, contradicted reports last week that President Trump was withdrawing half of his troops from Afghanistan.

The withdrawal statement not only caused concerns about Afghanistan’s future, it also led to extensive lobbying — both in and outside the United States — to persuade Mr Trump to change his mind.

Republican Senator Lindsey Gra­ham led a mission to Afghanistan last week to convince the president that Afghanistan was still worth fighting for. “The conditions in Afghanistan make American troop withdrawals a high-risk strategy,” he said in a statement.

“If we continue on our present course we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way towards a second 9/11,” he warned.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2018