DOHA - Taliban officials have held three days of talks in Qatar with the United States' special representative for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, aimed at renewing the peace process in the war-torn country, an official of the armed group said.
The talks, which ended on Sunday, were confirmed by other individuals close to the group, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the negotiations, reported Aljazeera and Voice of America (VOA).
Both sides were "optimistic about the dialogue process," multiple Taliban sources said. Neither side, however, has officially confirmed or released details of this week's talks in Doha.
The Taliban said its dialogue process with Washington was aimed at securing a timetable for the withdrawal of all the US and NATO troops from Afghanistan to pave the way for an intra-Afghan dialogue.
Last week, a five-member Taliban delegation had attended talks in Moscow for the first time at an international conference to discuss the Afghan peace efforts.
"A second phase (of discussions) should be held among Afghans (themselves) on how to bring about peace and form a government in Afghanistan," Sohail Shaheen, a Qatar-based spokesperson for the Taliban, told reporters in Moscow last week.
The armed group has reported that in meetings with Khalilzad, it is also seeking the release of its prisoners and the removal of international travel restrictions on senior Taliban leaders.
Another individual close to the talks, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said Khalilzad wants to reach a settlement within six months, a timescale the Taliban said was too short.
Khalilzad also proposed a ceasefire, which the Taliban rejected, the individual said, adding that there was no agreement on the release of prisoners, opening the group's office or lifting a travel ban on its leaders.
It was reported that Khairullah Khairkhwa, the former Taliban governor of Herat, and Mohammed Fazel, a former Taliban military chief, attended the marathon talks. Khairkhwa and Fazel were among five senior Taliban members released from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2014 in exchange for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban after walking off his base in Afghanistan in 2009.
A third individual with knowledge of the discussions said the Taliban pressed for a postponement of next year's presidential elections and the establishment of an interim government under a neutral leadership.
Abdul Sattar Sirat, an ethnic Tajik and Islamic scholar, was suggested as a candidate to lead an interim administration.
Pakistan has meanwhile released a number of high-level Taliban prisoners, including the movement's cofounder, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The releases are widely seen as a US-directed move aimed at encouraging the Taliban to participate in talks.
Khalilzad has been touring the region in recent days, and reportedly met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday. He is expected to press Ghani to cobble together his own negotiating team, which could prove difficult given the deep divisions within the government.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the gathering, said Khalilzad met Taliban officials in Doha for the second time in four months. US officials could not immediately be reached for comment as the State Department has refused to comment on reported talks with the Taliban.
US Secretary of Defence James Mattis thanked Qatar speaking before a meeting in Washington on Tuesday and said: "In Qatar, we recognised a long-time friend and military partner for peace and stability in the Middle East and a supporter of NATO's mission in Afghanistan, and here I must note Qatar's recent highly successful delivery of materials from Hungary to NATO's mission in Afghanistan is proof of your global reach."
For his part, Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, has been holding discussions with leaders and representatives of Afghan political parties, as well as civil society organisations for the formation of an "advisory council and a negotiating team."
Ghani's office said Saturday the meetings will continue for several more days and the government is determined to proceed with a peace process based on national consensus. It quoted the president as cautioning "the route to peace is full of obstacles, and we need to be ready to employ all available tools for gaining a positive outcome."
Speaking this week via video link to an audience in Washington, the Afghan president appeared upbeat about the prospects of peace talks. Responding to domestic critics that the US has not taken Kabul into its confidence before opening talk with the Taliban, Ghani noted that many of the ideas and the plans Khalilzad is discussing with the Taliban actually have come from the Afghan government.
"The US engagement (with the Taliban) is to ensure that talks with the Taliban result not in negotiations with the Taliban but direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban," Ghani said.
The president said his government is prepared to tackle all the issues on the negotiating table to try to bring an end to the deadly war in Afghanistan. He disclosed in his speech that since 2015, his government security forces have lost more than 28,500 personnel in the battle with the Taliban but Ghani denied the insurgents were in a winning position on the battlefield.
According to Russian news agency Sputnik, US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters in Kabul that he hoped for a peace agreement between the Afghan authorities and the Taliban movement to be reached before the presidential elections in the country scheduled for April 20, the Tolo News broadcaster reported on Sunday.
Khalilzad noted that Taliban leaders believe that military actions would not help them to win in the conflict, and that although no statements can be made at this stage, he remains optimistic and hopeful about peaceful negotiations to resolve the situation in the country.
The envoy expressed hope that the negotiations would lead to peace and prosperity in Afghanistan.