Warring Afghan sides meet to discuss peace talk

KABUL: Negotiators from the Afghan government and Taliban teams met Friday to discuss speeding up stalled peace talks, officials from both sides said, as a deadly mosque blast shattered the calm of a holiday ceasefire in Afghanistan.

Despite unprecedented talks opening in September in Doha, the two warring sides have struggled to make headway, with violence escalating in Afghanistan as the US pulls out the last of its troops.

“Today a meeting was held in Doha between the delegations of both negotiating sides,” the Afghan government’s peace team tweeted.

The parties “emphasised speeding up the peace talks in Doha”, it added.

In a similar statement posted to Twitter, the Taliban said “both sides agreed to continue the talks after (Eid al-Fitr)”, which ends on Saturday.

A three-day ceasefire agreed by the warring sides came into force on Thursday to mark the Muslim holiday, after weeks of deadly violence.

But the calm was broken by a blast at a mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, which killed 12 people including the imam leading Friday prayers.

No group has so far claimed the attack and the Taliban denied responsibility.

A spokesman for the interior ministry said the explosives were placed in the mosque ahead of the prayers.

Afghans have been cautiously enjoying the rare respite from violence, only the fourth such truce in the two decades-long conflict.

Ceasefires in the past have largely held, in what is widely thought to be an exercise by the Taliban leadership to prove it has control over the myriad factions across the country that make up the hardline movement.

As violence has soared, including a wave of targeted killings on Afghanistan’s educated class, international efforts have been made to jump start the talks – including a one day conference in Moscow in March attended by representatives on both sides, as well as Russia, the US, China and Pakistan.

Turkey was also scheduled to hold an Afghanistan conference in late April but it was postponed indefinitely because the Taliban declined to attend.

The US, Russia and other mediators want to see some form of transitional government take power in Afghanistan involving the Taliban, but President Ashraf Ghani has insisted leaders can only be chosen at the ballot box. Having made enormous gains on the battleground, the Taliban appear to have little to gain from either strategy.

Washington has vowed to end America’s longest war but missed a deadline earlier this month to withdraw all of its troops, as agreed with the Taliban in return for security guarantees and a promise to launch talks with the Afghan government, who were cut out of the deal.

President Joe Biden pushed back the date to Sept 11

– 20 years after the US invaded Afghanistan and ousted the hardline Taliban.