ISLAMABAD - The Afghan Taliban have cancelled peace talks with officials from the United States in Qatar due to disagreements over the agenda of the meeting.

The two-day talks were scheduled to begin today (January 9) in Qatar’s capital Doha. The Taliban had rejected the participation of Afghan government officials in the deliberations.

“Both sides have agreed to not meet in Qatar,” senior Taliban members based in Afghanistan said as quoted by Reuters, Al Jazeera reported.

Taliban have also rejected several requests from regional powers to allow Afghan officials to take part in the talks, insisting there was no need to hold talks with the ‘puppet’ Afghan regime.

Other reports said Afghan Taliban representatives agreed to meet the US officials on another mutually agreed date in Qatar but refused to engage with the Afghan government officials.

According to Al Jazeera, the talks would have been the fourth in a series between Taliban leaders and US special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad. Pakistani and Iranian officials said they were trying to persuade the Taliban to meet Afghan officials.

The development came as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Envoy Mohammed Umer Daudzai held talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad.

Daudzai met Qureshi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. Following his appointment to this new position, this is Daudzai’s first visit abroad.

The Afghan Special Envoy conveyed the greetings of President Ghani for the Pakistani leadership while expressing Afghan government’s strong desire to work closely with Pakistan in all areas of mutual interest, said a foreign ministry statement. He conveyed the deep appreciation of the sincerity and vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan for peace and stability in Afghanistan, it added. Daudzai said Foreign Minister Qureshi’s three visits to Kabul within a span of four months were a clear proof of Pakistan’s strong support for Afghanistan. He briefed the foreign minister about his role to help create harmony among the various stakeholders.

Qureshi said peace and stability in Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s own best national interest and necessary for economic development and prosperity in the region.

He highlighted the growing international convergence on the need to end the suffering of the people of Afghanistan through peaceful settlement of conflict.

The foreign minister assured that Pakistan would do all to help the people of Afghanistan see the earliest possible end to bloodshed and enter a new phase of peace and prosperity.

The Afghan Special Envoy noted that both Pakistan and Afghanistan had a unique relationship marked by commonalities and similarity of interests. This opportunity needed to be fully utilised by cementing various bilateral mechanisms of cooperation, he added.

He expressed Afghan government’s strong desire to make maximum use of the excellent framework provided by Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity in all areas of cooperation. “Enhancing bilateral trade and economic activities and more regular cultural and people-to-people contacts was the need of the hour,” he said.

Both sides agreed for regular exchange of high-level visits for creating greater harmony and coordination on various areas of mutual interest. Truly reflective of the brotherly feelings between the two peoples, the close cultural and historical bonds must be harnessed to usher the Pak-Afghan partnership into the new era for mutual benefit of both countries.

Earlier in the day, Daudzai arrived in Islamabad on what is being termed an important visit to Pakistan. During his stay till January 11, President Ghani’s Special Envoy will hold meetings with Pakistani officials to discuss the Afghanistan peace process. He will meet Pakistan’s civil and military leaders including Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Daudzai will discuss with Pakistani officials the recently held US-Taliban talks in the UAE and Qatar. Pakistan acted as a facilitator for these talks.

The United States and Pakistan are expected to engage on higher level in the wake of this visit to take the process forward.

A new era of dialogue on political facilitation in Afghanistan and pullout of the US troops is expected to begin, sources said, adding the Afghan elections have been delayed due to these talks. US President Donald Trump had recently announced calling back a significant number of US troops from Afghanistan.

President Ashraf Ghani said the government was ready to meet the Taliban “anywhere and anytime.”

The United States, which sent troops to Afghanistan in the wake of September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington and at the peak of the deployment had more than 100,000 troops in the country, withdrew most of its forces in 2014. It keeps around 14,000 troops there as part of a NATO-led mission aiding Afghan security forces and hunting militants.

Reports about US President Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan triggered uncertainty in Kabul, which depends on the US and other foreign powers for military support and training.

 

Afghan Taliban cancel peace talks with US in Qatar