Doha, Aug 23 (IANS) The US and Taliban have resumed peace talks in Doha, Qatar, aimed at chalking out a deal on the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and negotiations with the government in Kabul.

Sources familiar with the ninth round of the talks said the negotiations, that began on Thursday, will focus on three key issues: the mechanism of Taliban prisoners release; a decision on whether to keep US intelligence in Afghanistan after a peace deal; and at what level of leadership the peace deal between the two sides should be signed, TOLO News reported.

“The recent statement by the US President that some part of the US intelligence will remain in Afghanistan has turned into a matter of discussion for the Taliban and it has raised some concerns. In this round, they will again discuss the issue in detail,” said Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban commander.

The Wall Street Journal citing the US officials has said that the Taliban initially demanded an immediate pullout, however, the US negotiators pressed for a withdrawal stretched over 18-24 months while the Taliban softened their demand to nine to 12 months.

Before the talks began on Thursday, US Special Representative on Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad had said that Washington was ready to seal a peace deal with the Taliban if the group was ready for it.

Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday assured that peace would finally prevail in the war-torn country and that the nation should not have any concern about the ongoing talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha. </s> Doha - The United States and the Afghan Taliban have resumed peace talks in Qatar to try to conclude an agreement that would bring an end to the longest US overseas military intervention.

The crucial ninth round of talks in the yearlong dialogue process got under way Thursday in the Qatari capital of Doha amid expectations it will lead to the much-awaited peace agreement between the two adversaries.

The talks come a day after clashes with Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan killed two American soldiers, bringing the number of US military fatalities in the country this year to 14, exceeding the 2018 total.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the special reconciliation envoy for Afghanistan, is leading the American side while Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanekzai is heading insurgent negotiators, said a Taliban spokesman. “Head of occupation forces Scott Miller was also present in these negotiations,” Zabihullah Mujahid said, referring to the American commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Khalilzad will travel to Kabul for meetings with the Afghan leadership after concluding the meeting in Doha.

The Afghan-born chief US negotiator tweeted before leaving Washington on Tuesday that “we will try and close on remaining issues. We’re ready. Let’s see if the Taliban are as well.”

The deal, if reached, would require Washington to announce a timeline for withdrawing US-led foreign troops from the country. In return, the Taliban will give guarantees they will not allow transnational terrorists to use Afghan soil for attacks against other countries.

The agreement would pave the way for talks among the Taliban and Afghan stakeholders, including representatives of the government in Kabul. Those talks will focus on a permanent cease-fire and issues related to future governance in Afghanistan. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Qatar on Sunday, officials said, for what could be the highest-level negotiations yet between the insurgents and American diplomats to end the long Afghan war.

The next round of talks, scheduled to begin on Monday in Doha, the Qatari capital, is expected to focus on the details of a framework deal that the two sides agreed to in principle last month, in which American troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in return for a guarantee by the Taliban that Afghan territory would never be used by terrorists.

The talks so far have excluded the Afghan government. American officials have said that any final agreement with the United States would require the insurgents to meet with Afghan officials and to declare a cease-fire to ease the burden of a war that is taking lives in record numbers.

Visiting Kabul before the next round of talks, Zalmay Khalilzad, the special envoy leading the American delegation, said he would be pushing the insurgents to agree to those two points. </s> The United States and Taliban officials have resumed talks in Qatar to firm up a deal enabling the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in return for Taliban security guarantees.

After 18 years of war and months of direct talks with Taliban leaders, the US appears to be on the cusp of reaching a deal that could allow a pullout of foreign forces followed by a ceasefire between the warring sides.

Two Taliban spokesmen said the ninth round of talks between the United States and the Taliban representatives started on Thursday evening.

A senior US official privy to the peace negotiations said the crucial meeting to iron out "smaller details" had begun in Qatar's capital city, Doha.

About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are now in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces carry out counter-terrorism operations.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the American military role in Afghanistan has basically turned into a "ridiculous" police force, in a sign that he is open to a US troop drawdown there. </s> The latest round of US-Taliban talks ended in Qatar on Thursday, an insurgent spokesman said, after "positive and constructive" negotiations that continued even as the Taliban bombed a US-funded aid group in Kabul.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman in Doha, tweeted that "some progress" had been made at the sixth round of peace talks and that the foes would meet again for another round of discussions.

"In general, this round was positive and constructive. Both sides listened to each other with care and patience," Shaheen wrote on Twitter.

The US embassy in Kabul did not immediately comment, nor did US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born former US ambassador to Afghanistan who is leading negotiations for the Americans.

Shaheen told AFP Sunday that peace negotiations were stumbling over the fundamental question of when foreign forces would depart Afghanistan.

Before the US agrees to any withdrawal as part of an eventual deal, it is demanding the Taliban put in place security guarantees, a ceasefire and other commitments including an "intra-Afghan" dialogue with the Kabul government and other Afghan representatives.

The Taliban however insist they won't do any of these things until the US announces a withdrawal timeline.

At the end of a large peace summit in Kabul last week, President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban a ceasefire to begin on the first day of Ramadan, but the insurgents refused.

On Wednesday, a Taliban suicide bomber and four gunmen attacked Counterpart International, a non-profit group working with marginalised people in Afghanistan, killing nine people.

"This violent attack is a senseless assault on the noble values that the organisations like Counterpart support, such as service to others, education, and inclusion," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. </s> Doha, Qatar - United States officials and Taliban representatives have resumed negotiations in Qatar's capital on finding a peaceful solution to Afghanistan's long-running war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians.

Key issues in Thursday's talks, which began a day after US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Doha, remain the withdrawal of US and other foreign forces from the country and a commitment by the Taliban that Afghanistan will not be used as a launchpad for global attacks.

The two sides entered peace negotiations in October last year, and an agreement on these two central issues would set the stage for separate negotiations between Afghan officials and the Taliban on a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing government.

The Taliban has so far refused to speak to the Afghan government, calling a "puppet regime". The group says any engagement with Kabul would grant it legitimacy.

In a statement confirming the start of the ninth round of US-Taliban talks, group spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday that General Scott Miller, the commander of the US forces and the NATO-led non-combat Resolution Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan, was also present at the meeting in the Qatari capital.

After the conclusion of the eighth round of talks last week, a Taliban representative in Doha who is part of the group's negotiating team said a peace deal was "near", without providing further details.

"This [eighth] round of talks has been very productive and we are near to an agreement that will be finalised and hopefully announced in the next coming weeks," he said.

In June, during the seventh round of talks, both sides said there was an understanding on troop withdrawal but the details, including a timeline, had not been worked out yet.

About 14,000 US troops and some 17,000 troops from 39 NATO allies and partner countries are in Afghanistan in a non-combative role.

'Plans on Afghanistan'

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed eagerness to remove forces from Afghanistan, said this week that the US military role in the country has effectively turned into a "ridiculous" police force.

He also singled out India and Pakistan as he urged other countries to assume the battle against armed groups.

The US invaded Afghanistan 18 years ago, seeking to remove the Taliban for sheltering al-Qaeda in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Last month, Trump argued he could easily win the Afghan war - Washington's longest military engagement abroad - by wiping out the country but added he did not "want to kill 10 million people".

"I have plans on Afghanistan that, if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone," Trump told reporters. "It would be over in - literally, in 10 days. And I don't want to do, I don't want to go that route."

The comment drew a stiff response from Afghanistan's presidential palace which demanded his comments be clarified.

A record 3,804 Afghan civilians were killed last year due in part to stepped-up air attacks by US-led forces and an increased number of suicide bombings, the United Nations said in a February report. </s> DOHA: The US and the Taliban said they would return to talks in Qatar on Friday (Aug 23) aimed at bringing a close to Afghanistan's 18-year conflict.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a media WhatsApp group that day two of the ninth round of negotiations in Doha would "restart after evening prayers and will continue till late evening".

A State Department official told AFP that US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and his team "have made progress on advancing a peace process".

But the official added that "we do not have an estimate for how long it may take to close out the remaining issues."

A source close to the US negotiating team earlier confirmed to AFP that talks would resume Friday afternoon.

The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to withdraw thousands of troops but only in return for the insurgent group renouncing Al-Qaeda and curbing attacks.

Washington is hoping to strike an agreement with the Taliban by Sep 1 - ahead of Afghan polls due the same month, and US presidential polls due in 2020.

Taliban lead negotiator Abbas Stanikzai told AFP Thursday that talks had been "going well".

The talks are expected to focus on establishing a timeline for the US withdrawal of its more than 13,000 troops.

"We've been there for 18 years, it's ridiculous," US President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday.

"We are negotiating with the government and we are negotiating with the Taliban," he added.

"We have good talks going and we will see what happens."

But thorny issues remain unresolved, including power-sharing with the Taliban, the role of regional powers including Pakistan and India, and the fate of Afghanistan's incumbent administration. </s> DOHA: The US and the Taliban said they would return to talks in Qatar on Friday aimed at bringing a close to Afghanistan’s 18-year conflict.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a media WhatsApp group that day two of the ninth round of negotiations in Doha would “restart after evening prayers and will continue till late evening”.

A source close to the US negotiating team confirmed to AFP that “talks will resume this afternoon”.

The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to withdraw thousands of troops but only in return for the insurgent group renouncing Al-Qaeda and curbing attacks.

Washington is hoping to strike an agreement with the Taliban by September 1 — ahead of Afghan polls due the same month, and US presidential polls due in 2020.

Taliban lead negotiator Abbas Stanikzai told AFP Thursday that talks had been “going well”.

The talks are expected to focus on establishing a timeline for the US withdrawal of its more than 13,000 troops.

“We’ve been there for 18 years, it’s ridiculous,” US President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday.

“We are negotiating with the government and we are negotiating with the Taliban,” he added.

“We have good talks going and we will see what happens.”

But thorny issues remain unresolved, including power-sharing with the Taliban, the role of regional powers including Pakistan and India, and the fate of Afghanistan’s incumbent administration. </s> KABUL: The latest round of US-Taliban talks ended in Qatar on Thursday, an insurgent spokesman said, after “positive and constructive” negotiations that continued even as the Taliban bombed a US-funded aid group in Kabul.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s political spokesman in Doha, tweeted that “some progress” had been made at the sixth round of peace talks and that the foes would meet again for another round of discussions.

“In general, this round was positive and constructive. Both sides listened to each other with care and patience,” Shaheen wrote on Twitter.

The US embassy in Kabul did not immediately comment, nor did US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born former US ambassador to Afghanistan who is leading negotiations for the Americans.

Shaheen told AFP Sunday that peace negotiations were stumbling over the fundamental question of when foreign forces would depart Afghanistan.

Before the US agrees to any withdrawal as part of an eventual deal, it is demanding the Taliban put in place security guarantees, a ceasefire and other commitments including an “intra-Afghan” dialogue with the Kabul government and other Afghan representatives.

The Taliban however insist they won’t do any of these things until the US announces a withdrawal timeline.

At the end of a large peace summit in Kabul last week, President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban a ceasefire to begin on the first day of Ramadan, but the insurgents refused.

On Wednesday, a Taliban suicide bomber and four gunmen attacked Counterpart International, a non-profit group working with marginalised people in Afghanistan, killing nine people.

“This violent attack is a senseless assault on the noble values that the organisations like Counterpart support, such as service to others, education, and inclusion,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
A ninth round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban starts in Doha, Qatar.