US, Taliban open Doha talks in a fresh bid to end war

ISLAMABAD - A fresh round of talks between the United States and the Taliban began in Qatar on Saturday, just days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington is hoping for an Afghan peace agreement before Sept 1.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that negotiations had begun. Originally scheduled to begin in the morning, the two sides sat down midafternoon for the seventh time in a series of direct talks that began last year following the appointment of US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

As in previous talks between Khalilzad and the Taliban, the focus is on the withdrawal of US troops and Taliban guarantees to prevent Afghanistan from again hosting militants who can stage global attacks. Both sides say they have come to an understanding on the withdrawal and the guarantees but details have yet to be worked out.

In the Afghan capital of Kabul last week, Pompeo said "real progress" had been made on a draft agreement with the Taliban to ensure "that Afghan soil never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists".

Both Khalilzad and Pompeo have said that agreements with the Taliban will come hand in hand with understandings on an intra-Afghan dialogue and a permanent cease-fire. It was expected that a timetable would be among the discussion points in the Doha talks.

The Taliban's negotiating team has been led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who co-founded the Taliban movement with its leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who ruled with an iron fist, imposing a strict brand of Islam. Omar died several years ago, while Baradar was held in a Pakistani jail since 2010 until his release earlier this year.

The Taliban have refused to meet directly with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government but have held several rounds of talks with a collection of Afghan personalities from Kabul, including former president Hamid Karzai, several prominent opposition leaders and government peace council members. Both those meetings were held in Moscow earlier this year.

The Taliban say they will meet with Afghan government officials but only as ordinary Afghans and not representatives of the government until an agreement with the US is finalized, saying the US is the final arbiter on the Taliban's biggest issue of troop withdrawal.

The latest round of talks comes amid heightened expectations that followed Pompeo's optimistic time frame for a pact to end Afghanistan's nearly 18-year war - US' longest-running military engagement.

Also on Sunday, Afghan government forces conducted an anti-militants operation, killing at least 10 Taliban fighters in the eastern Wardak province, said a statement of provincial government released on Sunday.

The operation was launched on Saturday night in Chak district of the province, resulting in the death of 10 fighters loyal to the Taliban group and arresting four others, the statement added.

AP - Xinhua