[ad_1]
According to the BBC, the meeting between the two parties will begin in Qatar on Saturday. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Doha to open the meeting. He described the meeting as “historic.”
On February 29, an agreement was signed between the Taliban and the United States to end the war of more than a decade and a half in Afghanistan and pave the way for peace in the country.
Immediately after the agreement, steps were taken to bring the Afghan government and the Taliban to the negotiating table.
In an agreement with the United States, the Taliban stipulated the release of some 5,000 members of their group. So the president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, disagreed at all. So at first he did not want to sit in peace talks with the Taliban.
But in August, the Afghan legislature approved a “Loya Jirga” to free Taliban prisoners, ending a 19-year war and under pressure from US President Donald Trump.
The Taliban prisoners were released in August as promised. Among those released were members of the Taliban convicted of carrying out attacks against Afghans and foreigners.
A delegation led by the Afghan government’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, left Kabul on Friday for Doha, Qatar, the BBC reported.
That same day, 19 years ago, Al Qaeda carried out an airstrike on the Twin Towers of the United States. As a result, the United States launched an operation in Afghanistan to destroy the militant group Al Qaeda. The Taliban regime in the country came to an end.
“We just want a respectable peace agreement,” Abdullah said as he left for Doha.
The Taliban also confirmed their participation in the Doha meeting on Thursday, the eve of the Afghan delegation’s departure. On the same day, the Afghan government released the last six Taliban prisoners.
This will be the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of the Afghan government and representatives of the Taliban. The Taliban have long described the country’s government as “powerless” and a “puppet of the United States” and have refused to meet with them. Both sides now seek to restore peace in the country through political reconciliation.
The meeting was scheduled for March following an agreement with the United States last February. But disagreements over the release of Taliban prisoners were no longer possible. Taliban leaders have made it clear that none of their members will attend the meeting while in prison.
[ad_2]
