Afghan Republic and Taliban negotiators meet in Doha

Afghan Republic peace talks team members and Taliban representatives met in Doha in Qatar on Friday and discussed the need to speed up negotiations.

The talks, which started in September, have largely stalled while a US-proposed peace meeting scheduled for Turkey was also put on hold after the Taliban refused to attend.

In this time however, violence across Afghanistan has intensified.

“The two sides discussed the on-going situation of the country and emphasised speeding up the peace talks in Doha,” the Afghan negotiating team tweeted of Friday’s meeting.

Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesperson, echoed those remarks, saying the talks would continue after the Eid holidays and that the two sides discussed expediting negotiations.

This step also comes as the US is on track to withdraw all its troops by September 11, as President Joe Biden announced earlier this year.

According to US Central Command (CENTCOM) last week, 104 military cargo loads of equipment have already been flown home.

Making progress in the intra-Afghan talks has been a top priority for the US as it begins pulling troops out and on Thursday, Washington’s special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said in his Eid message that both sides should commit to come together “in brotherhood, so that all energy and all talents of the nation can be focused without fear, on the building of a better society”.

He also called on Afghan and Taliban leaders to embrace peace. “In the spirit of Eid, this should include a firm commitment and a public promise to refrain from any acts of vengeance related to the divisions of the past.”

“While overcoming decades of mistrust and anger between warring parties is not easy, to make peace now is the only ethical and the only practical way forward.

“Unrelenting violence has convulsed Afghanistan for over two generations. Citizens live in fear, anxious of when and what the next attack will bring,” he said.