Taliban, Afghanistan agree to maintain peace talks

>> TALIBAN and Afghan peace negotiators have agreed on a code of conduct to safeguard against the risk of any breakdown in talks that began last month in Qatar to bring an end to decades of war, three official sources told Reuters yesterday. The breakthrough was achieved with the help of U.S. officials, as the two sides drew up 19 ground rules that their negotiators should observe during talks, the sources said. While the talks have been taking place in Qatar’s capital Doha, scores of Afghan soldiers and Taliban fighters have been killed in clashes and suicide attacks in which dozens of civilians have also died in recent weeks.

“Firming up code of conduct was extremely crucial as it proves that both sides are willing to continue talks even as we see that violence has not reduced on the ground,” said one senior Western diplomat on conditions of anonymity.

The breakthrough came as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held bilateral discussions in Qatar’s capital of Doha with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Envoy, and Gen. Austin Miller, the top commander for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The intra-Afghan talks are part of a landmark deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February. Under the deal, foreign forces will leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counter terrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which agreed to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and a power-sharing formula with the Afghan government.