Peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government yesterday opened in Qatar, marking what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heralded as a “truly momentous” breakthrough in nearly two decades of relentless conflict.
The talks would be arduous and complex, delegates said at an opening ceremony in Doha, and are starting even as deadly violence continues to grip Afghanistan.
“We will undoubtedly encounter many challenges in the talks over the coming days, weeks and months,” Pompeo said as he called for the warring sides to “seize this opportunity” to secure peace.
Photo: Reuters
“Remember, you are acting not only for this generation of Afghans, but for future generations as well, your children and your grandchildren,” he said.
Nineteen years since the US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, Afghanistan’s war is still killing dozens of people daily.
Former Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, who is heading the peace process for Kabul, said that 12,000 civilians have been killed and another 15,000 wounded just since the US signed a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban on Feb. 29.
Abdullah called for an immediate, humanitarian ceasefire — but his plea went unanswered by Taliban cofounder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who made no mention of a truce in his opening remarks.
The Taliban have long worried that reducing violence could lessen their leverage.
Instead, Baradar repeated the insurgents’ message that Afghanistan should be run according to Islamic law, highlighting what likely would be the main sticking point in negotiations.
The Taliban want to reshape Afghanistan as an Islamic “emirate,” while the administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wants to maintain the Western-backed status quo of a constitutional republic that has enshrined many rights, including greater freedoms for women.
Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soreide urged all sides to include “women, victims and minorities and other stakeholders” in the process, saying that such inclusivity is the key to an enduring accord.
Four of the 21 people on the Kabul negotiating team are women. The Taliban’s delegation of the same size has none.
Habiba Sarabi, one of the women negotiators, told reporters that the talks’ opening had been “very positive.”
“Everybody, including Secretary Pompeo, shared their solidarity, from the Taliban side also. They were in a better position compared to the last meetings. We’re on the way to building the trust,” she said.
Doha’s chief mediator Mutlaq al-Qahtani stressed “the power of diplomacy.”
“We’re advising the Taliban to preserve, to protect women’s rights,” Mutlaq said.
Doha invited the Taliban to open a political office in 2013 and helped broker February’s US-Taliban deal.
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