ISLAMABAD – The three-member Taliban delegation from Qatar visited Pakistanthis week with the aim of restarting peace negotiations to end the 16-yearwar.
A delegation approved by the Taliban’s leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzadavisited Islamabad this week for exploratory talks on restarting peacenegotiations to end the 16-year war in the country, two senior officials inthe movement told Reuters.
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 told Reuters.
They met representatives of Afghan politician Syed Hamid Gilani, Chairmanof Mahaz-e-Milli Party, a senior aide to Gilani confirmed on condition ofanonymity, it said. 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, the reportsaid.
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-e-Islami.
The Reuters report said that a spokesman for President said on Wednesday hewas not aware of the Islamabad talks, while the Taliban did not respond toqueries.
Both sides on Monday denied participating in the Turkey talks.
However, two senior Taliban officials said on condition of anonymity thatAkhundzada had approved Monday’s exploratory meeting in Islamabad onrestarting talks to end the war, the report said.