‘POSITIVE’ START TO US-TALIBAN TALKS

▶ Direct approach comes as US and Afghan officials push to find a peaceful solution to long war

A meeting between a senior US diplomat and Taliban representatives in Doha last week to discuss a possible ceasefire ended with “very positive signals”, sources said.

The meeting between a delegation led by Alice Wells, deputy assistant secretary in the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, and Taliban representatives was reported in The Wall Street Journal but not officially confirmed.

A Taliban official, who claimed to be part of the delegation, said there were “very positive signals” from the meeting, conducted in a “friendly atmosphere” in a Doha hotel.

“You can’t call it peace talks,” he said. “These are a series of meetings for initiating formal talks. We agreed to meet again soon and resolve the Afghan conflict through dialogue.”

He said the talks had been held without the presence of Afghan government officials at the insistence of the Taliban.

The Afghan government and the US have stepped up efforts to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan after an unprecedented three-day truce during the Eid Al Fitr holidays.

The truce, during which unarmed Taliban fighters mingled with soldiers on the streets of Kabul and other cities, offered the first concrete hopes of a peace deal since an earlier attempt in 2015 broke down.

The Taliban refused an offer by President Ashraf Ghani to extend the Eid ceasefire but contact has continued and the government has said it is considering another ceasefire during next month’s Eid Al Adha holidays.

As hopes for negotiations have risen, the US has agreed to take part directly, although it insists the process will remain under Afghan leadership.

The Taliban official said the talks took place with the approval of the leadership council. The sides discussed proposals to allow the Taliban free movement in two provinces where they would not be attacked, an idea that Mr Ghani had already rejected.

They also discussed Taliban participation in the Afghan government.

“The only demand they made was to allow their military bases in Afghanistan,” the official said.

The meeting in Doha, where the Taliban maintains an office, followed two meetings between US officials and Taliban representatives in recent months, the sources said.

Another Taliban source said the two sides would exchange prisoners, then discuss other issues that could restore peace to Afghanistan.

“However, our delegation made it clear to them that peace can only be restored to Afghanistan when all foreign forces are withdrawn,” he said.

The US had pressed the Taliban to accept the ceasefire offer for Eid Al Adha, which this year starts on August 22.

The State Department said that the only meetings Ms Wells had about Afghanistan were with UAE officials.

Mr Ghani’s main spokesman Haroon Chakansuri said last week that peace talks would be Afghan-led and would build on international consensus in support of peace.

Meanwhile, ISIS claimed responsibility on Sunday for an attack on a midwife training centre in Jalalabad on Saturday, which killed three staff.

The extremists said the attack was carried out by two gunmen. Nearly 70 people, including students and teachers, were inside the centre in the capital of Nangarhar province at the time of the assault.