Peace talks with Taliban may be another casualty of bombing

Conference was planned for Tuesday

KABUL, Afghanistan — All around Kabul, the broken glass was being swept and the dead were still being buried on Thursday. They were the most visible signs of the toll taken by the huge truck bombing in the capital the day before in which nearly 100 died, but another casualty of the violence may yet come into view: a new attempt to move toward peace negotiations with the Taliban.

Over the past several weeks, the Afghan government and the foreign missions here have been preparing for a conference on Tuesday in which representatives from nearly two dozen countries were to gather in Kabul to discuss the war.

The plan was that President Ashraf Ghani would use the conference as a venue to try to build international support as he emphasized that his government was recommitted to the idea that negotiations were needed. Officials characterized it as an Afghan attempt to bring all the regional and political players together to try to take control of a process that has repeatedly been derailed by a lack of cooperation from neighboring powers and by Taliban military gains.

But the bombing, which the government says was committed by the Haqqani wing of the Taliban, has cast a shadow over the effort in several ways — a demonstration of how fragile even the earliest steps of peacemaking can be in the middle of a war.

Abdul Hakim Mujahid, who used to be a Taliban ambassador to the United Nations and is now a member of the Afghan government’s High Peace Council, said that even though the Taliban spokesman had denied that thegroup was responsible for the bombing on Wednesday, the attack had nevertheless further complicated an already difficult task.

“There are movements underway about peace and the making of a peace deal, but I am not hopeful about the current situation,” Mr. Mujahid said.

First was the physical reality of a huge bomb going off in the diplomatic district of Kabul.

Aides to Mr. Ghani said that he was determined to go ahead with the conference even if it meant some of the foreign dignitaries attending via video conference. Some Western officials said the meeting was on schedule as late as Thursday evening. But several expressed concern, saying the security environment was just not right for dignitaries from their capitals to visit.

There was another concern, also: that a forum meant to revive efforts for peace could become another platform for furthering regional tensions if the Afghan government intensified its accusations against Pakistan.

And on Thursday, local Afghan news media reported that the president had signed the execution orders of 11 members of the Taliban in custody.

The Taliban responded with a threat, saying that if the prisoners were executed, “all offices of the Kabul administration” would come under attack “to teach them a lesson.”