Second round of Afghan-Taliban talks set for end July

The Afghan government and the Taliban are set to hold the second round of peace talks by the end of July “most probably” in China, the officials said on Friday.

The first round of peace talks in Murree were supported by Taliban leader Mullah Omer through a public statement.

“The second round of talks… is set for July 30 or 31”, a member of the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) Muhammad Ismail Qasimyar was quoted as saying by AFP.

Neighbouring Pakistan is key to the process because of its historic ties to the Afghan Taliban leaders, who have used the Pakistan border region as a safe heaven.

Qasimyar said Kabul will urge the Taliban to agree to a temporary cease-fire in the fighting, which has been ongoing since a U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001.

“A truce and the possible inclusion of the Taliban in the political system will constitute the theme of the discussion in the next round,”Shahid said.Mohammad Natiqi, a member of the government’s delegation for the talks, said that there would be some changes in the ranks of the Taliban negotiators and new faces from their side would participate”.

A range of interviews with army and police commanders and regional government officials in crucial battleground areas indicated that even though the Afghan forces have nominally met their goal of maintaining a presence in every city and all but a very few district centers, they are often functionally penned in by the Taliban, rarely mounting patrols, much less taking territory back.

It followed several informal contacts since Ashraf Ghani became president previous year.

However, violence has sharply increased in most parts of the country this year with Afghan forces suffering record number of casualties.