ISLAMABAD – A delegation approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader visitedthe Pakistani capital this week for exploratory talks on restarting peacenegotiations to end Afghanistan’s 16-year war, two senior officials in themovement said.
It was unclear if any progress was made in the unofficial meetings with arepresentative of a prominent Afghan politician. Many previous attemptshave failed to revive direct talks that ended nearly as soon as theystarted in 2015.
The Islamabad talks on Monday followed another back-channel meeting overthe weekend in Turkey between individuals with Taliban connections andrepresentatives of Hizb-i-Islami, the party of a former Taliban-alliedcommander who last year laid down arms to join Afghan politics.
A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday he was notaware of the Islamabad talks, while the Taliban did not respond to queries.Both sides on Monday denied participating in the Turkey talks.
However, two senior Taliban officials said on condition of anonymity thatsupreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada had approved Monday’s exploratorymeeting in Islamabad on restarting talks to end the war that killsthousands of Afghans each year.
Akhundzada is widely believed to be in hiding in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Turkey meeting hadno legitimate Taliban representatives in attendance.
“This is an intelligence game that aims at defaming and damaging the realpeace process in Afghanistan,” he said in a statement that referred to theTaliban position that true negotiations can only happen once all foreigntroops leave.
SAFE HAVENS
Washington has piled pressure on to Pakistan to persuade the insurgents’leaders to negotiate as well as crack down on alleged Taliban safe havensinside the country – tactics that Pakistan has said are incompatible.
The three-member Taliban delegation from Qatar included Shababuddin Dilawarand Jan Mohammad Madani from the Taliban’s political office in Qataricapital as well as the brother-in-law of Mullah Jacoob, son of the lateTaliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, the sources said.
They met representatives of Afghan politician Pir Syed Hamid Gilani, headof the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan and the son former High PeaceCouncil chief who died last July, a senior aide to Gilani confirmed oncondition of anonymity. Gilani’s office did not respond to queries.
The Taliban’s Haqqani network last week released 14 Afghan army soldiers inthe eastern province of Paktia as a goodwill gesture ahead of the talks,according to both the Taliban officials and the aide to Gilani.
In his latest report to the United Nations Security Council last month, theU.N. secretary general said there had been “no meaningful progress towardsa peace settlement”.
Under a new strategy announced last year, the United States has stepped upair strikes and boosted assistance to Afghan government forces fighting theTaliban to try to break a stalemate and force the insurgents to thenegotiating table.
Though the Afghan government still controls less than two-thirds of thecountry, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesdaytouted the new strategy as a success and specifically mentioned possiblefuture direct talks with the Taliban.ADVERTISEMENT
“The U.S. policy on Afghanistan is working,” Haley told reporters in NewYork on Wednesday after travelling to Kabul at the weekend with the U.N.Security Council. “We are seeing that we’re closer to talks with theTaliban and the peace process than we’ve seen before.”
She said Afghan officials had told the envoys that since the U.S. strategywas put in place “they’re starting to see the Taliban concede, they arestarting to see them move towards coming to the table”.
Haley said that the entire peace process was Afghan-led and owned, adding:”We don’t think that we need to facilitate the peace process, we think weneed to support the peace process.” – Agencies