塔利班稱上週與美國高官會談

A senior U.S. diplomat held talks last week in Doha with representatives of the Taliban, with no one from the Afghan government present, top Taliban officials said Sunday.

As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the Taliban said the talks with deputy assistant secretary of state Alice Wells ended with "very positive signals" and a decision to hold more talks.

"You can't call it peace talks. There are a series of meetings for initiating formal and purposeful talks. We agreed to meet again soon and resolve the Afghan conflict through dialogue," a Taliban official said.

He gave no details of the talks.A U.S. State Department spokeswoman did not confirm or deny the meeting, but repeated the long-held U.S. policy that "any negotiations over the political future of Afghanistan will be between the Taliban and the Afghan government."

A successful cease-fire in Afghanistan for Eid al-Fitr - the holiday marking the end of Ramadan - has given all sides confidence that peace talks in Afghanistan are possible.

There has been speculation that another cease-fire for next month's Eid-al Qurban holiday is possible.

The Taliban has said there can be peace in Afghanistan only when all foreign fighters leave.

Past U.S. efforts to open peace talks in Afghanistan failed.阿富汗塔利班高級領導人星期天說，一名美國高級外交官上星期在多哈與塔利班代表舉行了會談，沒有任何阿富汗政府官員在場。

最先報道有關這次會談的美國《華爾街日報》說，塔利班說與美國副助理國務卿威爾斯的會談以“十分積極的信號”結束，並決定繼續舉行會談。

一位塔利班負責人說：“不能稱之爲和平會談。啓動正式和確定目標的會談前要有一系列會議。我們同意很快再次會談，通過對話化解阿富汗衝突。”

他沒有透露任何會談細節。美國國務院的發言人既不證實也不否認這次會談，但是重申了美國長期以來的政策，“任何有關阿富汗政治未來的談判都將在塔利班和阿富汗政府之間進行”。

阿富汗開齋節成功實現停火給衝突各方帶來有可能舉行阿富汗和平談判的信心。

塔利班曾表示，只有一切外國戰鬥人員離開才能在阿富汗實現和平。

美國過去試圖開啓和平談判的努力均以失敗告終。