Pompeo meets Taliban, Afghanistan officials as violence continues

Bloomberg

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo met officials from the Taliban and Afghan government as the US seeks to keep peace negotiations on track amid renewed violence and a surprise move by the White House to accelerate the withdrawal of US troops.
The Trump administration will “sit on the side and help where we can,” Pompeo said at a meeting with Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi, Afghanistan’s state minister for peace and a member of the negotiating team. “I would be most interested in getting your thoughts on how we can increase the probability of successful outcome that I know we share.”
Pompeo made no remarks at the start of a meeting with Naderi’s Taliban counterpart. He met with the two sides hours after rockets struck several neighbourhoods in Kabul, killing at least eight people. The Taliban denied involvement in the attack.
A senior US official, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks, said Pompeo’s message would be that both sides need to seize the moment and agree to a deal to avoid even more violence as
US troops pull out.
Pompeo is also seeking to keep up momentum for the peace negotiations, which began in September. Those talks were roiled by the Trump administration’s surprise announcement that it will cut troops from about 4,500 to 2,500 by January 15, with the president seeking to a complete withdrawal by May 2021.