The United States and the Taliban on Monday resumed their talks in Doha aimed at ending the stalemate over participation of Afghan government in negotiations for a political settlement of the conflict.
\nTaliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement said: \u201cFollowing American acceptance of the agenda of ending invasion of Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from being used against other countries in the future, talks with American representatives took place today in Doha.\u201d
\nThe talks would continue on Tuesday.
\nDoha meeting happened as the Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan intelligence agency \u2014 National Directorate of Security \u2014 installation in Maidan Shahr, Kabul, killing and wounding dozens of security personnel.
\nThe two sides \u2014 US and Taliban \u2014 had last met in December 2018 in Abu Dhabi in a meeting facilitated by Pakistan and observed by Saudi Arabia and UAE. It had been agreed at the meeting that the engagement process would be continued. But, arranging the next round of talks became difficult due to the Taliban\u2019s inflexibility over negotiating with the Afghan government. The Taliban have, meanwhile, been insisting that US should instead withdraw its forces and release Taliban prisoners.
\nThere was no word from the US side on the Taliban claim after the latest meeting in Doha that US had agreed to discuss withdrawal plans.
\nUS Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad had earlier on Saturday hinted at flexibility in the American position. He had said: \u201cLet me be clear: the US wants peace. \u2026 To achieve peace, we are ready to address legitimate concerns of all Afghan sides in a process that ensures Afghan independence and sovereignty, and accounts for legitimate interests of regional states. Urgent that fighting end.\u201d
\nHe had made these comments while clarifying his statement from Kabul in which he talked about maintaining military pressure while engaging in peace talks. This was seen as an indication that the US was pursuing a talks and fight strategy.
\nAmb Khalilzad last week made an extensive trip to Pakistan spanning over five days during which intensive behind the scenes efforts were made to end the impasse in the ongoing contacts.
\nThe special envoy appeared hopeful as he left Islamabad on Sunday. \u201cWe\u2019re heading in the right direction with more steps by Pakistan coming that will lead to concrete results,\u201d he had tweeted after concluding Pakistan trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States and the Taliban on Monday resumed their talks in Doha aimed at ending the stalemate over participation of Afghan government in negotiations for a political settlement of the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n