TALIBAN RETURN TO QATAR SETS STAGE FOR PEACE TALKS

Taliban officials say a senior delegation returned early Saturday to Qatar, paving the way for the start of peace talks with the Afghan government that are expected to take place in the tiny Gulf state.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The delayed negotiations are the second, critical part to a peace deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban in February in Doha.

The Taliban delegation’s arrival in Qatar, where the group keeps its political office, came as a top Afghan government body blamed the militants for delays in starting talks.

In a tweet on Saturday, the spokesman for Kabul’s High Council for National Reconciliation, Faraidoon Khwazoon, said the government was ready to start direct negotiations.

“The process of releasing the prisoners is over and there is no excuse for delaying the talks, but the Taliban are still not ready to take part in the talks, ” he said, without further elaboration.

In a surprise late-night Saturday tweet, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed announced a shakeup in the Taliban negotiation team. The Taliban’s Chief Justice Abdul Hakim has been named the lead negotiator replacing Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who will be deputy negotiator. The appointment of Hakim, who is close to the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhunzada, brings the Taliban’s negotiating team to 21. There was no explanation for the sudden changes.

Until its February deal with the U.S., the Taliban refused to directly negotiate with the Afghan government. The current Kabul negotiating team is a collection of government and opposition officials.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement Saturday that its envoy Zalmay Khalilzad who brokered the February peace deal left for Qatar on the previous day to press for an “immediate” start to negotiations between the warring Afghan sides.