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Doha to host next round of talks between Afghan government, Taliban: Official

Sunday, 27 December 2020 5:25 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 28 December 2020 9:16 AM ]

The Taliban delegation arrives for the agreement signing between Taliban and US officials in Doha, Qatar, February 29, 2020. (Photo by AP)

A top Afghan official says the next round of talks between the government and the Taliban will begin in Qatar next month, as President Ashraf Ghani’s call to move the dialogue back home remains unanswered.

“The second round of talks will begin on January 5 in Doha,” spokesman for Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation Faraidoon Khwazoon tweeted on Sunday.

He said many of the countries that had earlier volunteered to host the talks withdrew their offers because of the spread of COVID-19.

The Afghan government and the Taliban held the first round of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha on September 12. The two sides took a break after striking a preliminary deal to end the conflict in Afghanistan.

It marked the first time the two warring sides reached a written agreement since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Afghan government, Taliban set to resume peace negotiations in January

Negotiators from both sides announced a pause in the talks until January 5.

Prior to the deal, the US and the Taliban reached a deal on the withdrawal of the remaining 12,000 US troops in exchange for the Taliban’s halting of their attacks on international forces. However, clashes and bombings continue to claim lives in the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, Ghani and some other senior officials have called for the talks to be moved back home, with Ghani underlining the need for the Afghan people to see how the talks proceed.

“We would prefer the second round of peace talks to take place inside Afghanistan,” Ghani’s spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, quoted the Afghan president as saying in a cabinet meeting earlier this month.

But the Taliban, which has in the past refused to hold talks in Afghanistan, has not responded to Ghani’s call.

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