U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan met with the Taliban in Doha and Pakistani officials in Islamabad this week. He is expected to meet Afghan officials in Kabul to talk about steps to start intra-Afghan negotiations. Meanwhile, Qatar said Wednesday that it is ready to host the talks.
It is significant that Pakistan has already stepped up cross-border terrorism in Kashmir — at a time when both the countries were facing the corona pandemic — to pursue its line of ‘retaliation’ against the abrogation of Art 370 by India. It is not difficult to imagine that the faith-based motivation of the Mujahideen can override any virus-related distraction and that Pakistan will intensify its subversive activity in J&K in the likely event of its acquiring a sway in Afghanistan — on the return of a Taliban-dominated rule in that country
The Afghan government announced last week that it has formed a negotiating team led by former intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai to hold talks with the Taliban group
Less than 24 hours after the United States signed a landmark deal with the Taliban to pave the way for peace in Afghanistan, its implementation has already hit the first speedbump. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem is in Doha following up on the developments. Here’s her report