The Taliban and the Afghan government restarted secret peace talks in September and have held two rounds of discussions in Qatar, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources. Citing a Taliban official, the Guardian said a senior American diplomat was present at the meetings in Qatar.
The newspaper said the talks were also attended by Mullah Abdul Manan, the brother of Afghan Taliban founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who died in 2013. An official in the National Unity Government in Kabul said that the two rounds of discussions took place in Doha, where the Taliban maintain a political office.
The Taliban and the US government have so far not commented officially on the development. The outcome of the September meeting was not clear but a Taliban source told the newspaper that it went positively and was held in a trouble free atmosphere. A second dialogue was held this month despite intensified nationwide fighting between insurgents and US-backed Afghan troops. No Pakistani official took part in the latest talks, according to the Guardian.