Peace talks between Kabul, Taliban end, plan to meet again

A delegation from Afghanistan’s president is meeting representatives of the Taliban in the Pakistani capital, officials said, in the first publicly acknowledged talks with the insurgents fighting to topple the government in Kabul.

The sources said the meetings in Islamabad are the follow-up of the recent talks held in Urumqi, China, about which Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has recently confirmed that Pakistan facilitated the talks in Urumqi.

“The individuals agreed to proceed talks to create an setting conducive for peace and the reconciliation course of”, the assertion stated.

The talks were expected to begin Tuesday evening, one official said.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ended its combat mission at the end of December, leaving Afghan forces to battle the resurgent Taliban on their own.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has pushed for the peace course of and has inspired nearer ties with neighbouring Pakistan in a bid to obtain this aim, first introduced the talks on Tuesday.

An Afghan official said the attack by a suicide vehicle bomber in the capital, Kabul, wounded at least two people.

It is for the first time that such an announcement has been made about peace process between Afghans and the Taliban.

Some disgruntled Taliban commanders question whether Omar is alive, and several have switched loyalty to Islamic State, the Middle East-based group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Analysts have suggested that the Taliban may want to delay formal peace talks in anticipation of a stronger negotiating position down the line.

Elements of the Afghan Taliban have chafed at their dependence on Pakistan and sought to keep it at a distance from its global outreach efforts.

“This is an important step in advancing prospects for a credible peace”, said White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest.

The remarks come after reports emerged that the Pakistani helicopters were dropping weapons to Taliban in the Barmal district of the province. But those attitudes are thought to have been in flux since December, when the Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan group, carried out a gruesome attack against a school in Peshawar.

“The problem is it (the meeting) further deepened differences between Mansour and Zakir”, he said.

Both sides expressed their collective desire to bring peace to Afghanistan and the region.

The U.S.-led military coalition said there were no fatalities. “Delegations of both the Afghanistan government and Talban have arrived Islamabad on Tuesday”, said an official privy to development.