The Guardian: Taliban, Afghanistan Restart Secret Talks in Qatar
Local Editor
The Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government have restarted secret talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, senior sources within the insurgency and the Kabul government have told the Guardian.
Among those present at the meetings held in September and October was Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar, the former Taliban chief who led the movement from its earliest days until his death in 2013.
The two rounds of talks are the first known negotiations to have taken place since a Pakistan-brokered process entirely broke down following the death in a US drone strike of Omar's successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
Doha has been a center for Taliban diplomacy since the movement was granted permission to set up an office in the Qatari capital in 2013, although that initiative became one of the many attempts to start a peace process that ultimately come to nothing following complaints from the Afghan government.
No Pakistani official took part in either the October or September meetings, according to a member of the Taliban's leadership council, the Quetta Shura. He said Islamabad has lost much of its traditional influence over a movement it has been associated with since it rose to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.
But according to the Taliban official, a senior US diplomat was present in the Qatar meetings. The US embassy in Afghanistan declined to comment on the claim.
The Taliban official said the first meeting in early September "went positively and was held in a trouble-free atmosphere" in which Akhund sat face to face with Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai, Afghanistan's intelligence chief.
A second meeting took place in early October, despite continued fighting between government and insurgent forces.
Recent weeks have seen the Taliban overrun Kunduz, a provincial capital, for the second time and threaten Lashkar Gah in Helmand.
The Taliban movement has long been divided on the wisdom of peace talks between hawkish commanders fighting in Afghanistan and some members of its leadership based in Pakistan who have favored talks.
Previous attempt to find a political end to the conflict have all failed. A western security official said the recent onslaught against provincial capitals was a "strong indication that the insurgents want to pursue a military strategy regardless of the politics".
"But we keep hearing hints and indications that various figures in the Taliban leadership want to talk as well," he said.
Source: The Guardian, Edited by website team
