KABUL (SW) – The Taliban leadership in Doha has held talks with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, and foreign minister of Qatar.
The Taliban’s Qatar office spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said in a tweet that the Taliban’s deputy head Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar led the insurgents’ delegation also comprising Mulla Mohammad Fazil Mazloom, Mulla Kherullah Kherkhwa and Ameer Khan Mutaqi.
Seperately, a Pakistani journalist, Tahir Khan, has claimed the Qatari foreign minister has been asked by the U.S. to mediate with the Taliban for extension of the proposed ‘reduction in violence’. He said the Qatari delegation is busy in talks with the Taliban, and headway was expected.
A former Taliban official, Syed Akbar Aagha, told Salam Watandar that the two sides have reached an agreement on rest of the issues. He added the Taliban have been urged by the U.S. through the Qataris to extend and prolong the ‘reduction in violence’.
This comes days after Mohammad Umer Daudzay, a close aide to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, told a moot in Kabul that the Afghan government has no pre-condition for the peace talks to commence. He added a new government formed after final results of the presidential polls would call a grand consultative session ‘Loya Jirga’ to decide the fate of peace talks.
ENDS
