2 weeks on, negotiating sides yet to meet

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghan government and the Taliban’s negotiating teams held no meeting on the agenda of peace talks in Qatar since last two weeks, a credible source said Sunday.

After a three-week recess, the Afghan negotiating team arrived in Qatar on January 5 and held their first meeting with the Taliban’s team the following day.

The two sides also held meetings on January 9 and January 10, but since they had not met.

A government’s negotiating team member in Qatar, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that they had no meeting with the Taliban side about the agenda of peace talks since the last two weeks.

The source did not say why the negotiations had been stalled, but said that the talks would probably start again.

Another source, privy to the Afghan peace negotiations, also said that no meeting had taken place between the two sides since last two weeks.

The source said they were ready for talks but awaited Taliban’s response. “It is unclear when the next meeting between the two teams will be held”, he said.

However, another source in Qatar said the Taliban were probably waiting for the release of more of their prisoners and removal of their leaders from the UN black list.

Some media reports had earlier said that the talks would be on hold until new US president, Joe Biden, is sworn in on January 20, but the Taliban and government negotiators had rejected the reports.

Mds/ma

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