Sources in Qatar said that some members of the Taliban’s negotiating team, including their chief negotiator Shaikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, have not traveled back to Doha from Pakistan to attend the second round of negotiations.  

Sources close to the Taliban said that the suggestion of a plan for an interim government by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is the reason behind the delay in the Taliban’s trip to Qatar.  

An airstrike in the western province of Ghazni on Saturday night left 18 people dead, all members of one family, said Baz Mohammad Nasir, head of the provincial council in the province.

The airstrike took place in Munazari village in Khashrod district, Nasir said, adding that the “Taliban were also targeted but there are no reports on their casualties yet.”