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Analysts See Qatar’s Mediation Helpful for Peace

The United States negotiators and Taliban members met in Qatar on Sunday evening – after days of informal meetings – to discuss “the results of the talks and the next steps for process,” a spokesman of the group in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, said in a tweet.

The Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was also at the meeting in which US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad as well as Taliban’s deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mohammad Fazil, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi were also present, according to Shaheen.

Analysts familiar with the process said the talks have reached a “promising stage” due to Qatar’s mediation as well as due to the two sides’ willingness to discuss a deal to be signed and a mechanism of a reduction in violence on which the Taliban has agreed after consolation with their leading military council last month.

“The Qatar foreign minister mediates the talks when there is a rift between the US and the Taliban,” said Khalilullah Safi, former head of Pugwash, an independent international organization. “Reports indicate that the Taliban has shown more flexibility – on an extended reduction in violence and intra-Afghan negotiations – but this is not final.”

The Afghan government expects that Qatar’s mediation will convince the Taliban to end violence in the country and begin intra-Afghan negotiations.

“It is important for us that these meetings and talks should have an optimal result,” presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. “An optimal result for the people of Afghanistan is an end to violence and end to the war in Afghanistan.”

“There is an opportunity and we hope that the Taliban will use this opportunity and enter direct talks with the Afghan government so that we agree on a political solution for enduring peace,” he added.

A researcher from the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, Hussain Ehsani, said Qatar’s mediation in the talks at this stage shows progress in the process.

“I think that the Afghan government should improve its ties with the Qatari government,” Mr. Ehsani said. “It will be helpful for the peace process if the Afghan government can convince Qatar to ask the Taliban to accept Afghanistan’s situation.”

The US and the Taliban have held ten rounds of talks since late 2018 led by chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad. The two sides are close to signing a peace deal but it awaits the Taliban’s agreement on a reduction in violence or ceasefire in Afghanistan, according to sources familiar with the process.

Analysts See Qatar’s Mediation Helpful for Peace

The Afghan government expects Qatar’s involvement in the talks as a mediator will move the process forward.

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The United States negotiators and Taliban members met in Qatar on Sunday evening – after days of informal meetings – to discuss “the results of the talks and the next steps for process,” a spokesman of the group in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, said in a tweet.

The Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, was also at the meeting in which US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad as well as Taliban’s deputy leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, Mohammad Fazil, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi were also present, according to Shaheen.

Analysts familiar with the process said the talks have reached a “promising stage” due to Qatar’s mediation as well as due to the two sides’ willingness to discuss a deal to be signed and a mechanism of a reduction in violence on which the Taliban has agreed after consolation with their leading military council last month.

“The Qatar foreign minister mediates the talks when there is a rift between the US and the Taliban,” said Khalilullah Safi, former head of Pugwash, an independent international organization. “Reports indicate that the Taliban has shown more flexibility – on an extended reduction in violence and intra-Afghan negotiations – but this is not final.”

The Afghan government expects that Qatar’s mediation will convince the Taliban to end violence in the country and begin intra-Afghan negotiations.

“It is important for us that these meetings and talks should have an optimal result,” presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. “An optimal result for the people of Afghanistan is an end to violence and end to the war in Afghanistan.”

“There is an opportunity and we hope that the Taliban will use this opportunity and enter direct talks with the Afghan government so that we agree on a political solution for enduring peace,” he added.

A researcher from the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies, Hussain Ehsani, said Qatar’s mediation in the talks at this stage shows progress in the process.

“I think that the Afghan government should improve its ties with the Qatari government,” Mr. Ehsani said. “It will be helpful for the peace process if the Afghan government can convince Qatar to ask the Taliban to accept Afghanistan’s situation.”

The US and the Taliban have held ten rounds of talks since late 2018 led by chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad. The two sides are close to signing a peace deal but it awaits the Taliban’s agreement on a reduction in violence or ceasefire in Afghanistan, according to sources familiar with the process.

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