KABUL (Pajhwok): US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad visited Doha to help resolve the dispute over the procedure of peace talks, a well-placed source said on Saturday.
The source, wishing to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that Khalilzad arrived in Doha last Wednesday and met with Taliban, Qatari officials and the Afghan government peace delegation and discussed with them the ongoing peace talks.
According to the source, Khalilzad called on the peace negotiators to resolve the dispute over some points as soon as possible in order to agree on the agenda and start discussions.
He said Khalilzad will stay for another two days in Doha and will then move to Uzbekistan.
Without giving details, the source said the Qatari facilitation team has no right to visit the negotiating teams’ rooms, but the peace negotiators could meet the Qatar facilitation team officials in case of any dispute.
Wishing anonymity, an Afghan negotiating team member told Pajhwok they met with Khalilzad and shared with him the last five days working report and sought his help for reduction in violence.
He said Qatar will be playing facilitator’s role in the talks between Afghan government and the Taliban negotiating teams.
The source said Qatari officials as facilitators would be sitting outside the rooms of the both sides and had no right of comments and decision.
The source said the talks’ procedure had not been finalized as yet and needed to be worked on. “What we write and share with the Taliban, they do not accept and in the same way what they write or send to us, we don’t accept.”
But Taliban Qatar office spokesman Dr. Naeem Wardak said that the intra-Afghan talks had no third side as a mediator.
He said the host nation was providing facilities and could share its views and consultations with each side individually, if necessary, without attending the inter-Afghan talks. “The right to make decisions rests with the intra-Afghan negotiating teams.”
pk/ma
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