KABUL- The Taliban said on Sunday they will not hold direct talks with Afghan government and rejected a statement from a senior minister about plans to hold the such as meeting within the next two weeks, a senior Taliban official said. 'Intra-Afghan talks will start only after a foreign force withdrawal is announced,' said Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar. On Saturday, Abdul Salam Rahimi, the state minister for peace affairs, said the government would be represented by a 15-member delegation during direct talks with the Taliban 'in the coming two weeks.'
(photo credit: JPOST STAFF)