EU AND CHINA URGE TALIBAN FOR PEACE

CHINA and the European Union believe the Taliban should seize Afghan President Ashraf Ghan's offer to recognize the movement-

As a legitimate political group, the EU's special envoy to Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners among a range of options, including new elections involving the militants, and a-

Constitutional review for a pact with the Taliban to end a conflict that, last year alone, killed or wounded more than 10,000 Afghan civilians.

The Taliban have not yet given any formal answer to the offer, but the U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday during an unannounced visit to Kabul that the United States is seeing signs of interests in talks from elements of the insurgency.

''China and EU believe that this is an offer that is meaningful.

It is an offer that presents the opportunity and a window that should be seized by all parties across the conflict lines.'' EU Ambassador Roland Kobia said after meeting the Chinese counterpart, Deng Xijan, in Beijing.

'We, as the EU, very much hope that the Taliban will respond to that offer to start discussion,'' Kobia said.

''In these kinds of scenarios windows open very quickly but they can also close very quickly,'' he said. Kobia added that China had various contacts with the Taliban, but he was not aware of the details.

Taliban fighters still control large parts of the country and any new battlefield gains by US and US-backed Afghan forces cannot promise to overcome-

Afghanistan's yawning political divisions and entrenched corruption. [Agencies].