‘Substantial’ progress in talks with Taliban: US envoy

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - The top U.S. envoy for Afghan peace on Saturday said “substantial” progress has been made in talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar.

Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, said in a series of tweets that the last six days of talks with the leaderships of the Taliban was “most productive session to date”.

He said “substantive progress” was made on all four key points of peace deal, namely the counter-terrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, participation in the intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations, and permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.

''We’re pausing talks today to support intra-Afghan dialogue (an intra-Afghan conference for peace), a critical milestone in the #AfghanPeaceProcess. There is still important work left to be done before we have an agreement. We will resume on the 9th after the dialogue", he tweeted.

From Kabul, a number of Afghan politicians, civil society activists and journalists on Saturday landed in Doha to attend the forthcoming intra-Afghan dialogue for peace.

The two-day conference will begin in the Qatari capital on Sunday, and will be co-hosted by Germany.

Although the Afghan government will not be officially represented at the intra-Afgan talks with the Taliban, a number of top officials from Kabul are going to attend the talks in their personal capacity.

Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's Qatar office, was also happy about the developments.

“We are satisfied with progress&hope remaining points will be finalized soon. We have not faced major obstacle so far," he said on Twitter.

According to the local Salam Afghanistan radio, Waheed Umer, senior adviser for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on public and strategic affairs, said in Kabul on Saturday that progress has been made in the talks, and an initial peace deal with the Taliban is likely to be inked in early September.