AGENCY : 22 days after the opening ceremony of the intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha, the negotiating teams of the Afghan government and Taliban are yet to begin direct talks to restore peace in the war-torn nation.
According to Tolo News, the negotiating teams of both sides of the peace negotiations have held seven contact group meetings, but could not agree on two disputed points. The contact groups have not held any meetings for the last six days.
According to the report, the Taliban demand recognition of the US-Taliban agreement as to the ‘mother deal’ underlying the Afghan peace negotiations and Hanafi jurisprudence as the sole religious legal guidelines for the talks.
However, the Afghan government has suggested alternatives to the Taliban’s demands. The government has proposed that if a religious issue arises it can be solved based on Hanafi jurisprudence by default, however, the Shia Personal Status Law must be respected, and the choice of religious jurisprudence should be given to other minority groups as well.
The peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban began on September 12 in Qatar’s capital Doha to end decades of war in which tens of thousands have been killed.
Amid the delay in the talks, the US and other countries have started diplomatic efforts American special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in Doha last week and met with negotiating teams of the two sides.Meanwhile, NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative, Stefano Pontecorvo, also held talks with chief negotiator Masoom Stanekzai and discussed the peace process.
