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KABUL: A former Taliban official says that negotiations between the insurgents and US envoy would likely go to sixth round, a statement amid the ongoing fifth round of talks in Qatar.
“I think the negotiation is useful because it prolonged. We hear something that we have got close to agreements but they have not reached a final result yet and the negotiation is likely going to the sixth round,” Sayed Akbar Agha, a former senior Taliban official who heads now a political party, said on Monday.
Nothing has got public yet about the negotiations between Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban negotiators, and political analyst Wahid Mojda believes that the talks would end once the two sides reach agreement.
“The Afghan war is in its 40th year. Detailed negotiations are needed to prevent the country from going back to the war era after peace. I believe that the negotiations will reach an agreement so they need more time,” said Mojda.
The ongoing talks are said to focus on the US drawdown and that Afghanistan would not turn to a safe haven for terrorist groups to threaten the US and its allies, but some members of parliament say that the prolonged negotiations show more subjects were under discussion.
“The prolonged talks mean that they apparently have progress. They say that only two subjects are discussed, but people say that more issues are talked,” said lawmaker Khaled Pashtoon.
The matter of concern for the people is that the government of Afghanistan has been deprived of attending the negotiations.
