Taliban not seeking to rule Afghanistan alone – spokesman

Taliban is not seeking a monopoly on power in a future administration in Afghanistan but is looking for ways to co-exist with Afghan institutions, a spokesman for Afghan Taliban's political office in Qatar said on Tuesday. 

Wednesday's remarks by Shaheen Suhail are the most conciliatory comments to date from the insurgent group. 

He provided them to The Associated Press in an audio message from Qatar, where the Taliban maintains an office.

Suhail said that once US forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban members want to live with other Afghans, "tolerate one another and start life like brothers."

"We believe in an inclusive Afghan world, where all Afghans can see themselves in it," he said.

Suhail's remarks come as the US envoy tasked with resolving Afghanistan's 17-year war has reported progress in his talks with the Taliban.

Trump says talks 'proceeding well'

Also on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said that Afghans want peace even though fighting in the country continues. 

He said negotiations in Afghanistan are going well. Talks "are proceeding well," Trump wrote on Twitter. 

US diplomats and the Afghan Taliban have seen cause for hope in talks to end the United States' longest war, but the pivotal issues of a ceasefire and the group sitting down with the Afghan government are far from being resolved.

Areas in which both sides have hailed progress – plans for the withdrawal of foreign troops 17 years after the US-led ouster of the Taliban and assurances that Afghanistan won't become a base for Al Qaeda or Daesh – still need detailed negotiation, sources on both sides said.

The withdrawal, for example, is contingent on a ceasefire that the Taliban have yet to discuss.