The Afghan republic negotiating team has offered four new alternatives to the Taliban to end the delay in the start of direct peace negotiations between the two sides in Doha, sources familiar with the process said. 

The Taliban has been insisting on the US-Taliban agreement to be the basis for the talks and Hanafi jurisdiction as religious basis for the negotiations. The two key points have delayed the start of peace negotiations in Doha.   

One of the four solutions offered by the negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the inclusion of the Afghan government in the US-Taliban agreement if the Taliban insists to put it as the basis for the talks, the sources said.  

Another option is the inclusion of the demands of the Loya Jirga in the negotiations, the sources said.  

Also adherence to Afghanistan’s international accords that are also endorsed by the UN and ending the war are the last two options on Taliban’s table to break the stalemate and start the talks. 

The consistent delay in the start of the negotiations and the sharp increase in violence in the country have created concerns about the future of the peace process.  

NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, Stefano Pontecorvo, who addressed a webinar on “NATO and Afghanistan Peace Process” organized by the Conservative Friends of Afghanistan on Tuesday said that the peace agreement between the US and the Taliban does not mean handover of Afghanistan to the Taliban. 

“We don’t think that the Taliban can win the war against the ANDSF,” he said. “One thing must be clear to everybody that this agreement (US-Taliban peace deal) was not crafted to hand the country to the Taliban. There has to be a real negotiation.” 

Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan. 

“The Afghan parties must seize this historic opportunity, work together constructively and secure an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement through intra-Afghan negotiations,” said Khan said in a speech to Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders on Tuesday. 

Addressing the online conference organized by Conservative Friends of Afghanistan, former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann said the US’s new strategy for Afghanistan will take some time. 

“The Biden administration is going to take some time to have an Afghan policy,” he said.