Taliban reaffirms authority of its Qatar ‘political office’

Malalai Shinwari, adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and former ministers met Taliban representatives in Doha on Saturday morning.

The demands include the release of political prisoners, their removal from global terror blacklists and the opening of its “political office” in Qatar.

These were “among the preliminary steps needed for peace”, the Taliban said in a statement.

Ghani’s message was conveyed during a two-day meeting in Qatar organised by the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs – a Nobel peace prize-winning crisis group – to resolve the war in Afghanistan.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban’s chief negotiator and head of its political office in Doha, said the group wants complete withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops, establishment of an “independent Islamic system”, formal global recognition of its Doha office, the release of an unnamed list of prisoners, an end to “poisonous propaganda” against the insurgents, and for the group to be removed from a United Nations blacklist targeting its members with travel and financial restrictions.

Afghan government officials are not attending the meeting in the Gulf emirate.

The Taliban made the declaration in a summary emailed by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Sunday of a statement it made during unofficial, closed-door talks taking place in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The threats were linked to a report Tolo TV broadcast about alleged Taliban activities in Kunduz, a northern city that the insurgents held for three days in late September.

The Afghan Taliban, who have so far rejected talks with the Afghan government, reiterated their demand to speak to the Americans first along with fulfilment of a few pre-conditions. Pugwash previous year organized similar talks that were also attended by Afghan officials.

Some Afghan parliamentarians and civil society representatives would also participate in the event, albeit in a private capacity, another analyst said.

Despite efforts to restart talks, since the start of the year the Taliban have ramped up their campaign of violence across Afghanistan, with suicide attacks and territorial gains in Helmand province.

A suicide auto bomb that targeted the bus killed at least eight people and wounded 27 others on Wednesday near the Russian Embassy in western Kabul.