Remaining govt peace negotiators to reach Doha soon

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some government and Taliban negotiating teams’ members have not traveled back to Doha to participate in the second round of talks, but sources say the government negotiators will reach Qatar soon.

According to reports, only seven of the 21-member Taliban team are in Qatar and four members of the government team have reached Doha so far. A credible Qatar-based source told Pajhwok Afghan News that four members of the Afghan government peace team (Fawzia Koofi, Nader Nadery, Matin Bek and Fatima Gailani) have not yet reached Qatar.

But the source said the four members would join their colleagues in Qatar in two or three days. The source also added that most of the Taliban negotiators including head of the team, Maulvi Abdul Hakim, were yet to travel back to Qatar.

According to the source, very few members of the Taliban team are in Doha. At least three meetings have been held between the two sides since the resumption of the second round of talks but the negotiations have been stopped, the source informed. Both sides are expected to hold a meeting today (Wednesday), the source said.

A member of the government negotiating team, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok that most of their colleagues were in Qatar and the remaining would reach there soon. The source said only seven members of the Taliban (Mullah Khairkhwa, Mullah Noorullah, Latif Mansoor, Din Mohammad Hanifi, Mohammad Hanif and two others) were in Qatar and the remaining were yet to reach there. He added they were currently working to prepare the agenda. He termed the absence of Taliban chief negotiator behind the irregular meetings.