Afghan govt team and Taliban meet in Qatar to discuss peace talks: officials

The Afghan government’s negotiating team and the Taliban leadership met in Qatar on Friday to discuss speeding up peace talks, after months of stalled negotiations, officials on both sides said.

“Today a meeting was held in Doha between the delegations of both negotiating sides,” the Afghan government’s peace team tweeted.

The parties “emphasized speeding up the peace talks in Doha”, it added.

In a similar statement posted to Twitter, the Taliban said “both sides agreed to continue the talks after (Eid al-Fitr)”.

A three-day ceasefire agreed by the warring sides came into force on Thursday to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid, after weeks of deadly violence.

Despite unprecedented talks opening in September in Qatar, they have struggled to make headway.

Turkey was scheduled to hold an Afghanistan conference in late April but it was postponed indefinitely because the Taliban declined to attend.

They were protesting a delay in the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Washington pushed back from May 1 to September 11.

Since foreign troops started the final withdrawal from Afghanistan, government forces and the Taliban have engaged in fierce fighting, especially in the south of the country.