Afghan Government to Hold Talks with Taliban in Qatar

A global peace council is arranging a meeting of the Afghanistan delegation and Taliban over the next few days in order to sort out differences through "open discussions" over the issue of war, according to sputniknews.

A 20-member Afghan delegation will be part of the Qatar meeting on Sunday and Monday, Attaullah Ludin, deputy chief of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, told Reuters.

"The open discussions are based on peace in Afghanistan. There will be representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban and some other organizations," Ludin said.

The Pugwash Council, a global organization that tries to solve war and conflicts, winning the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, has organized the meeting as a regional conference.

Ever since Ashraf Ghani took over from the earlier President, Hamid Karzai, by the end of 2014, he has tried to include Pakistan as a mediator in his talks with the Taliban, according to ibtimes.

The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, agreed that an eight-member Taliban delegation would be part of the Qatar conference this weekend. But, he added, its attendance "does not mean at all peace talks or negotiations."

He agreed that having been part of high-level meetings in which Afghan officials, as well as from Pakistan and other countries, participated, Taliban would be meeting them.

"It's top secret so far," he was quoted as saying by Reuters

In February, Pakistan's army chief told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that Taliban seniors would be part of the peace process. Earlier efforts to establish communication, along with the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar in 2013, part of a US-sponsored bid to promote talks, have not led anywhere, Reuters reported.

However, the Taliban continues the fighting. Last week, Taliban fighters invaded the outer districts of a northerly provincial capital, Kunduz.