Roundup: Afghan gov't set to constitute negotiating team for Doha talks amid Taliban opposition

Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-10 20:23:39|Editor: xuxin

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KABUL, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan government has been working hard to constitute a negotiating team for holding talks with the Taliban expected to be held in Qatar's capital Doha next week.

The Taliban, which has repeatedly refused the offer to hold direct talks with Afghan government, once again expressed opposition to the participation of government delegation in Qatar's talks.

A delegation of Afghan politicians, independent figures, representatives of political parties and chieftains are expected to hold talks with the Taliban officials in Doha next week.

However, the government of Afghanistan, which has termed any talks for peace in the absence of government delegation as "useless" according to media reports, is set to finalize the names of negotiating team for Qatar talks to find negotiated settlement to the country's protracted crisis.

The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who has met Taliban representatives six times since November last year, in meeting with Afghan leaders including President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani last week here in Kabul, stressed for inclusion of government delegation for talks with the Taliban.

The Qatar talks are expected to open on April 14 and the participants would discuss the ways and means on how to find amicable solution to Afghan imbroglio and ensure lasting peace to the war-battered Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid in a statement posted on his twitter account on Wednesday once against expressed opposition to the participation of government delegation, saying anyone from the Kabul administration can attend the talks within his personal capacity and can present his personal opinion and not the government stance.

Similarly, a former Taliban member Sayed Akbar Agha, according to media reports has lashed at the Taliban inflexibility, saying the militant group should give up the insistance on re-establishment of Islamic Emirate (name of ousted Taliban regime collapsed in late 2001) and initiate direct talks with Afghan government to end fighting in Afghanistan.