Nasib Shah Shinwari
LANDIKOTAL: A picture released from Doha, the capital of the Arab state ‘Qatar’ has shown the participants of Afghan Taliban and US representatives negotiations launched on Monday, according to Taliban saying media, the talks will continue for four days to discuss various aspects of the peace process in Afghanistan.
According to a news report from Al-Jazeera, Mullah Muhammad Baradar, the prominent Taliban leader arrived in Doha Monday and was heading the Afghan Taliban team to hold talks with US officials to find a solution to 17 years long war in Afghanistan.
The representative of the United States of America to Afghanistan ‘Zalmay Khalilzad’ has also arrived at the capital of Qatar and according to his tweets last day he thanked the government of Pakistan for facilitating his travel to Doha.
He has expressed his views about the 25 February 2019 US-Taliban talks in the following tweets and said that this is a significant moment.
Arrived in #Doha to meet with a more authoritative Taliban delegation. This could be a significant moment. Appreciate #Qatar for hosting & #Pakistan in facilitating travel. Now the work begins in earnest.
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) February 25, 2019
Earlier on Monday, Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive of Afghanistan said that we were ready for talks with the Taliban and it was a matter of concern that the Taliban was not ready to sit with the Afghanistan government and it was the main hurdle to bringing peace in Afghanistan.
The CE at today's Council of Minsters Meeting:
We are committed to negotiations, but I still regard lack of Taliban's sincerity in negotiations as main obstacle to peace in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/FOJJGkV56j— Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) February 25, 2019
In another tweet appreciating the efforts for peace in Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah applauded the vital role of Zalmay Khalilzad as the representative of the US for Afghanistan reconciliation to bring peace to the people of Afghanistan.
Had a good discussion with HE Zalmay Khalizad, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation @US4AfghanPeace. Thanked him for his efforts and emphasized Afghanistan’s ownership of peace talks. pic.twitter.com/1c6aIjzhbL
— Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) February 17, 2019
It is important to mention here that after the recent end of peace talks between Afghan Taliban leaders and the US government, no decision of Nato troops to withdraw nor a peace agreement to stop the violent incidents in Afghanistan has taken place between these groups which is the main cause of Afghan people’s concern.
According to the Taliban spokesman, in this round of talks with the US officials, discussion on the US troop’s withdrawal and other relevant issues will take place.
The prominent Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Afghan Taliban political commission is also present at the talks while Sher Muhammad Abbas Stankzai, the former Taliban head of the Qatar office is heading the Taliban negotiation team at the table talks with the USA launched on Monday at Doha. The media report said.
