Pompeo on 'contentious' upcoming Afghanistan talks

Much anticipated negotiations between Afghanistan's warring parties are likely to be “contentious”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Friday, but are the only way forward if Afghans are to find peace after decades of relentless conflict.

Pompeo made his comments en route to the Middle Eastern state of Qatar, where intra-Afghan negotiations are to begin Saturday, a day mostly reserved for ceremony before the hard task of hammering out a road map for a post-war Afghanistan begins.

The negotiations were laid out in a peace deal Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in Doha on February 29 aimed at ending the war and bringing US troops home ending America's longest conflict.

“We expect Saturday morning, for the first time in almost two decades, to have the Afghans sitting at the table together prepared to have what will be contentious discussions about how to move their country forward," Pompeo said on the plane taking him to Doha.

President Donald Trump made the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan a promise before the 2016 presidential election.

In the countdown to this November's presidential polls, Washington has ramped up pressure to start intra-Afghan negotiations.

At a news conference Thursday, Trump called the talks “exciting” and said Washington expected to be down to 4,000 troops by November.

Even though delays have plagued the start of talks, Washington began withdrawing some of its 13,000 troops after the February 29 deal was signed.

Withdrawal of the remaining troops does not hinge on the success of intra-Afghan negotiations but rather the commitment made by the Taliban in the deal to fight terrorists groups that could threaten the US and its allies.

Pompeo in his comments made it clear the US was ready to return soldiers to Afghanistan if it saw a threat emerging and the Taliban reneged on their commitments.

The White House and its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad have refused to give specifics on commitments made by the Taliban, citing security concerns.