Former Afghan ministers Umar Daudzai and Anwarul Haq Ahadi in a meeting with Taliban representatives Sher Abbas Stanekzai and Abdul Salam Hanafi during the Pugwash conference in Doha.
Advertisement
Last year, a similar event organised by Pugwash was also attended by Afghan officials, though they came in a personal capacity and didn’t represent the government.
On Monday, delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the USA met in Kabul for a second meeting aimed at bolstering the peace process.
Prospects of the Taliban, having an increasingly strong presence on the battlefield since the withdrawal of most global troops in 2014, joining any talks had appeared slim, it said.
In its statement from the latest Qatar talks, the Taliban said it is serious about peace should it succeed in its aims of ending foreign intervention in Afghanistan and establishing an “independent Islamic system”.
The four-nation contact group has been tasked to prepare a roadmap and set conditions for starting productive peace negotiations.
The push to formally launch the peace process comes as the militant group has ramped up its violent campaign, making significant gains in the Helmand province.
The Afghan Taliban will participate in the ongoing peace talks only if their conditions, which include the removal of their members from a United Nations blacklist, are met, the armed group’s representatives have said.
The Taliban made the declaration in a summary emailed by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Sunday of a statement it made during unofficial, closed-door talks taking place in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The High Peace Council-the government body tasked with negotiating with the Taliban-has urged the militants to resume talks without preconditions.
Taliban sources, however, said Ghani, in a written message reportedly delivered by acting Afghan Defense Minster Masoom Stanekzi on the final day of the gathering, had accepted the Taliban as political opposition and was ready to engage in direct talks.
Advertisement
Seven employees of popular Afghan TV channel Tolo were killed on Wednesday when a Taliban vehicle bomber rammed into their minibus in Kabul, just months after the militants declared the network a legitimate “military target”. At least 25 other people were wounded in the bombing near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul, in the first direct assault on an Afghan media organization since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.
