Republic negotiator Abdul Hafiz Mansoor on Monday said that the negotiating team has decided that the legitimacy of the war must be discussed with the Taliban before any progress can be made. 

He says the talks will not have an outcome until this issue is clarified. 

On Sunday, the chief negotiators from the Afghan republic and the Taliban met; however, the working groups from both sides failed to meet on Monday to finalize the agenda for the talks.  

Three meetings were held in the first days since the talks resumed on January 6, but the working groups from both sides have not met for the last six days.

According to negotiator Nader Nadery, it was only the heads of the two teams and a limited amount of members who met on Sunday evening and discussed the agenda.  

The lack of meetings was criticized by Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, who met with a number of foreign diplomats at a virtual event to discuss coordination around the peace efforts.   

Abdullah said the peace efforts must be expedited. 

“Our negotiating team is in Qatar. They’re back there on time. They had plenty of meetings with different stakeholders,” Abdullah said. “The guiding principles were approved by the leadership committee of the High Council for National Reconciliation.”  

Referring to Afghan Republic chief negotiator Masoom Stanekzai’s meeting with the Taliban deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar and their chief negotiator Abdul Hakim Haqqani to Qatar on Sunday evening, the State Ministry for Peace Affairs said issues around the agenda of the talks and organizing of the next sessions were discussed.  

Both sides have confirmed that the Republic team’s stance on adding ceasefire to the top of the agenda and rejection of this matter by the Taliban is one of the reasons behind the delay in ending work on the agenda.  

An increase in violence has once again raised concerns among Afghanistan’s allies who have consistently called for an immediate halt to conflict in the country.