Afghan talks teams meet, agree to find solutions to disputed issues

A meeting between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s negotiating team and the Taliban was held Wednesday night where both sides agreed to find ways to resolve the contentious issues.

Nader Nadery, a member of the Afghan Republic’s team, said late Wednesday night: “A meeting between the negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan with the other side was held this evening. The heads and members of both delegations discussed disputed issues and emphasized that the contact groups meet again to present solutions.”

Another source told Ariana News on Wednesday the meeting was aimed at finding alternate solutions for disputed points around the framework of negotiations.

The source said the delegations will seek ways to put aside their disputes – which are believed to hinge on two issues – that of jurisprudence and secondly, the US-Taliban agreement.

This decision has been taken so that stalled talks can move forward, sources said.

It is now hoped that both sides will reach a decision over the framework of the talks and make enough progress to finalize the agenda.

There has been two main areas of contention to date. Firstly, the issue around Hanafi jurisprudence, which is followed by the majority of Afghanistan’s Sunni Muslims and which the Taliban want as a guide to all aspects of the talks.

But Afghanistan is home to minority groups of other schools of Islamic jurisprudence including Shia Muslims, and as such the government wants talks to be all-inclusive.

There have also been differences of opinion on the Doha agreement signed between the US and the Taliban in February being used as the framework for talks.

The Taliban say talks should be based on this agreement while the Afghan negotiating team says otherwise. The Afghan government was not party to the deal and feels it should be able to include its own ideas in the framework. ee to find solutions to disputed issues