Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation is expecting to hold talks with Mullah Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s number two and the group’s deputy leader for political affair—just days after reports were doing round that Baradar will miss next round of peace talks in Qatar due to some reasons, including lack of traveling documents that preventing him from traveling abroad.
Mullah Ghani Bradar, Taliban’s number two and the group’s head of the political committee is en route to Doha for talks with the US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, TOLOnews said quoting anonymous sources.
A New York Times Reporter in Kabul also writes, “Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader for political affairs, will be in Doha when next round of talks with Americans start tomorrow. This, after reports that he wasn’t go to be there, adds weight to the coming days of talks.”
This comes as Zalmay Khalilzad is to hold the fifth round of talks between Washington and Taliban negotiating team today (Monday) in the Qatari capital of Doha, sources close to the militant group confirmed to Afghanistan Times.
The negotiations would focus on the foreign troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and guarantee from Taliban that Afghanistan would not be used by terrorist networks to threaten security of other countries, the sources said.
The two parties would likely reach agreement on some issues, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media.
Former Taliban officials say that prisoner swap, possible ceasefire, foreign soldiers’ drawdown and intra-Afghan talks would be discussed in the next round of negotiations.
This comes as according to reports, Pakistan has not allowed Taliban negotiators to fly from its soil to Qatar.
