The US government has called on the Taliban to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government and become part of the political system, after the group backed out of planned negotiations, saying they rejected the process.
The Taliban said on Saturday it would not take part in the talks, which are brokered by representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, casting doubt on efforts to revive negotiations.
US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said to media on Monday,
"[As] we’ve said before, they have a choice: Rather that continuing to fight their fellow Afghans and destabilizing their country, they should engage in a peace process and ultimately become a legitimate part of the political system of a sovereign, united Afghanistan."
Afghan officials said on Monday that they were still open to hold the talks.
An earlier peace effort broke down in 2015 after it emerged that the Taliban's founder and long time leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died about two years prior.