KABUL: The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday reiterated its willingness to hold direct talks with the US.
This comes two weeks after the Taliban, in an unprecedented move, made a similar call in an open letter to the US public and politicians.
The group says it wants direct talks with the US because it, not Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, has the influence, and because it was America that toppled the Taliban government.
In reiterating its willingness, the group cited Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary in the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, who recently said the “door is open” for talks.
The Taliban said in a statement: “For ending the occupation, we want a peaceful resolution to the Afghan issue.” It added that the US must focus on a “peaceful strategy for Afghanistan instead of war.”
The Taliban said: “Military strategies which have repeatedly been tested in Afghanistan over the past seventeen years will only intensify and prolong the war. And this is not in the interest of anyone.”
The group’s reiterated call for talks comes the day before a regional conference in Kabul, where representatives from 25 countries will discuss counterterrorism and conflict resolution.
“I’m confident that the conference is going to push forward regional efforts to enforce what has been our most important message to the Taliban — that the door is open, there is a path to peace and stability,” said Wells.
Ghani on Tuesday said his government will propose an inclusive proposal to Pakistan and the Taliban during the conference.
Taliban reiterates call for direct talks with US
Taliban reiterates call for direct talks with US
Spain expects tourist arrivals to keep growing in 2026
- “If growth continues this year, we will reach 100 million foreign tourists,” Hereu said
- Spain is the world’s second most visited country after France
MADRID: Spain expects to host more foreign visitors, and for them to spend more in total, in 2026 after the country welcomed a record 97 million tourists last year, Tourism Minister Jordi Hereu told reporters on Thursday.
“If growth continues this year, we will reach 100 million foreign tourists, but we aren’t focused on that,” Hereu said, adding that last year’s figure represented a 3.5 percent increase on 2024, while revenues from tourism rose 6.8 percent to 135 billion euros ($157 billion).
Spain is the world’s second most visited country after France, and tourism is a major source of revenue for the economy, which has by far outgrown its European peers in the past two years.
According to tourism industry lobby Exceltur, the sector accounted for an estimated 13 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product in 2025.
Hereu said in the first four months of this year — including the busy Easter holiday season — authorities were forecasting a 3.7 percent rise in visitors from abroad to 26 million people, who they expect will spend 35 billion euros, up 2.5 percent from the same period last year. The Mediterranean country’s tourism boom, while boosting its economy, has led to tension in many visitor hotspots due to the indirect effect on housing prices, congestion and natural resource degradation problems. Some popular destinations like Ibiza have cracked down on short-term rentals.
Hereu said Spain’s model was moving away from seasonality, as data showed that tourist spending had grown by 53 percent in the low and mid-seasons compared with pre-pandemic year 2019, and by 34 percent in the high season. Two-thirds of tourists who visited Spain in 2025 intend to return as they see it as a safe place, the minister said, adding that there was no sign of global geopolitical issues affecting flight availability or booking trends.
