US seeks Imran's help for Afghan peace talks

Key Taliban commander dies in air strike

FE Team | Published: December 03, 2018 21:38:27

Imran Khan

NEW YORK, Dec 03 (Agencies): US President Donald Trump has sought Pakistan's help with Afghan peace talks in a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the South Asian nation's information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, said on Monday.
Trump wants to end a 17-year-old war between Afghan security forces and the Afghan Taliban militants, who are fighting to drive out international forces and establish their version of strict Islamic law.
US officials have long been pushing Pakistan to lean on the Taliban leadership, which Washington says is based in the country, to bring them to the negotiating table.
"President Trump has written a letter," Chaudhry told Reuters. "He has asked for Pakistan's cooperation to bring the Taliban into talks."
Trump told Khan the Pakistan relationship was very important to the United States and to finding a solution to the Afghanistan conflict, Chaudhry added.
Meanwhile, one of the Taliban's most senior commanders has been killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan.
Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund was the Taliban's "governor" and military chief for the southern Helmand province.
He was killed in the Nawzad district of Helmand on Saturday night, provincial officials said.
The Taliban said his death was a "major loss" but it would not deter them in their efforts to take back control of Afghanistan.
But Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told the AFP news agency his death was a major blow to the Taliban and would "lower the morale" of its fighters in southern Afghanistan.