During their daily briefing today, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the ongoing US talks with Taliban leadership in Qatar would not include any representation from the Pakistani Taliban.

According to Toner it was inappropriate to allow Pakistani Taliban into the talks because they are “carrying out violent attacks against Afghans and also international entities in Afghanistan.”

Toner’s comments come ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan, and Toner said Clinton would press Pakistan for more offensives against the militant factions in the area.

The Afghan government has been trying to start a new series of talks with the Taliban, since they have been mostly cut out of the US ones. Toner insisted that the Afghan government would eventually be brought into the US talks, saying it was important to have Afghan-Afghan reconciliation.

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