The critical Afghan peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan government in Qatar have appeared to be postponed as failing over who (delegation) will attend the meetings.
According to Al-Jazeera news reports, the organization who is sponsoring the Afghan peace process in Qatar, the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies director Sultan Barakat said that “this is, unfortunately, necessary to further build consensus as to who should participate in the conference”.
The peace talks, which was originally scheduled to take place on Friday, in Qatar, between a team of the delegation of the Taliban and the Afghan government was considered to be the first major step taken to put an end to the 17-year-long Afghan war and eventual withdrawal of the United States armed forces from the war-torn country.
Qatar has on Thursday announced a list of 243 peoples’ names who will attend the peace talks, but the list differed from Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s list of 250 people, which included more women, a senior official stated.
US special envoy for Afghan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has said he was disappointed by “Qatar’s intra-Afghan initiative has been delayed”.
In a tweet, Zalmay wrote: “We’re in touch with all parties and encouraged that everyone remains committed to dialogue. I urge all sides to seize the moment and put things back on track by agreeing to a participant list that speaks for all Afghans.”
The Taliban have long-denied calls for holding meetings with the Afghan government, as the Taliban considered Kabul as a puppet of Washington. However, after several months, the Taliban agreed to hold peace talks with Afghanistan.
This development has come as new violence ripped across Afghanistan and the announcement of a spring offensive by the Taliban.