Taliban Meets For Talks With United States Peace Envoy

Library photo of a Taliban training camp (Picture: PA).

Senior Taliban leaders, including one of the group's founders, are meeting with the US special peace envoy in Qatar.

The Taliban has raised expectations ahead of talks with Zalmay Khalilzad as efforts to find a negotiated solution to Afghanistan's 17-year war intensify.

"Yes, there is a possibility we will reach some results," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press.

Leading the Taliban delegation in Doha was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the movement.

Past talks have focused on US withdrawal of troops, which has been a standing Taliban demand, and guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used again as a staging area for terror attacks on the United States.

It emerged last year that President Donald Trump was considering withdrawing as many as 7,000 troops from Afghanistan.

Britain, meanwhile, has around 1,000 non-combat troops in Afghanistan in training and security roles around the city of Kabul.

Mr Khalilzad is expected to pressure the Taliban to hold direct talks with the government in Kabul, something the insurgents have so far refused to do.

The Taliban had power over much of Afghanistan before US forces invaded in October 2001 following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In recent times, the group has gained strength, carrying out deadly near-daily attacks on Afghan army and police forces and holding sway over almost half the country.

They view the US-backed government in Kabul as a dysfunctional Western puppet and have refused repeated offers to negotiate with it.

However, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai recently told reporters the Taliban would talk with Afghan government officials on condition they are part of a larger group of prominent Afghan figures meeting with the Taliban - similar to the gathering held earlier this month in Moscow.

Mr Karzai attended the meeting in Russia, as did Afghan opposition figures, but no one from the Kabul government was there.

The presence of the Taliban's co-founder Baradar in Doha and his lead role in the talks with Mr Khalilzad is considered significant because of his stature within the Taliban movement.

The Taliban maintains a political office in Doha.

Since his appointment as Washington's peace envoy, Mr Khalilzad has traversed the region, meeting the Taliban on several occasions, as well as power brokers in Kabul, including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

He has also been to Pakistan, India, Russia and China and held meetings with NATO and EU officials.