Recent actions by the Taliban will not help them gain international legitimacy, the White House said on Friday, after insurgents from the group killed the government's senior media officer in Kabul.
"Our view is that, if the Taliban claim to want international legitimacy, these actions are not going to get them the legitimacy they seek," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing.
"They do not have to stay on this trajectory. They can choose to devote the same energy to the peace process as they are to their military campaign."
Taliban attackers killed Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Government Media and Information Centre, in the latest in a series of killings aimed at weakening President Ashraf Ghani's democratically elected government.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Mark Potter)
