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Afghan president bars minister from visiting US as Trump gives no response to letter

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA) , 10 Feb 2019 - 20:28

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has barred his minister of foreign affairs from visiting the United States to attend an international meeting as he received no response to his letter to US President Donald Trump, sources told 1TV Sunday.



In the letter sent last month, Ghani offered Trump reduced costs for keeping US troops in Afghanistan. He wrote the letter just a few days after the most serious negotiations between US and Taliban ended in Qatar.
US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, who talked with the Taliban, said that there had been an agreement on a framework for two key issues that the Taliban would prevent the use of Afghan territory by terrorists and US would agree to withdraw their forces.
US hosted foreign ministers of the 79-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS on February 6 in Washington. Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, however, was missing in the event.
Sources said that the minister was barred from visiting by President Ghani who was frustrated after getting no response from Trump to his letter.
According to sources, Ghani called Trump’s inattention to the letter an insult to the Afghan government
Sebghat Ahmadi, a spokesman for Afghan Foreign Ministry, confirmed that Minister Rabbani was expected to attend the meeting in US, but he denied that the presidency was behind its failure to happen.
He said that Rabbani could not participate in the meeting due to domestic affairs.
The presidency also rejected the sources’ claims.
 


Story Code: 179411

News Link :
https://www.avapress.net/en/news/179411/afghan-president-bars-minister-from-visiting-us-as-trump-gives-no-response-to-letter

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