The contact groups from the Afghan government and Taliban negotiating teams held their first meeting on Sunday evening and discussed the agenda, guidelines, scheduling and other issues related to the direct peace negotiations, according to Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem.

The negotiating teams representing the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban formed their respective contact groups at a meeting held behind closed doors on Saturday after the opening ceremony of the intra-Afghan negotiations.

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, Nader Nadery, Zarar Ahmad Muqbil, Fawzia Koofi, Enayatullah Baligh, Mohammad Natiqi and Khalid Noor are the seven members of the contact group of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s contact group members are Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Abbas Stanekzai, Noorullah Noori, Shaikh Delawar and Shaikh Qasim.

In this episode, host Zarmina Mohammad discusses the topic with the following guests:

Massouda Karokhi, MP

Tariq Farhadi, university professor from Switzerland

Mehrabuddin Sapai, former Kapisa governor