ISLAMABAD - After a groundbreaking meeting held on Pakistani soil, Afghan government and Taliban have agreed that they won’t carry out any major attack against each other and continue the dialogue process - aimed at ending the militants’ 13-year insurgency.
Pakistan said it hosted the parleys between representatives of Tehrik-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) and top officials from the Afghan unity government Tuesday night. Representatives of China and the US also participated in the talks, held at hill resort of Murree.
Few details were released about what was actually discussed, but country’s Foreign Office in a short statement said the talks lasted through the night, concluding at sehri, the traditional pre-dawn meal Muslims eat during Ramazan. The next meeting will be held at mutually convenient date after Ramazan, which is due to end around July 18.
Official sources said the two main parties agreed to restrain from launching any major offensive against each other as long as the negotiations process continues, but acknowledge the threat to peace process from the annoyed elements or those against this peace initiative. It was unclear if this partial ceasefire would also apply to foreign troops and their installations in Afghanistan.
The participants were duly mandated by their respective leadership, the Foreign Office (FO) said, adding that they “agreed to continue talks to create an environment conducive for peace and reconciliation process”.
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, nephew of former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, led the four-member Afghan government delegation which also included representatives of High Peace Council (HPC), the body tasked with opening negotiations.
The FO said the participants exchanged views on ways and means to bring peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. It was agreed that for lasting peace in the region, each side would approach the process in sincerity and with full commitment. They recognised the need to develop confidence building measures to engender trust among all stakeholders.
Several informal meetings have been held in recent months between Taliban representatives and Afghan officials and activists. But the talks in Pakistan, led on the HPC side by deputy foreign minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, are seen as a significant step. The UN mission in Afghanistan and former president Hamid Karzai welcomed the talks.
This was the first high-profile interaction duly facilitated by Pakistan on its own soil. And, it is the first time Kabul has publicly acknowledged that someone as senior as a government minister was talking directly to the Taliban - though some earlier meetings were shrouded in secrecy, so it was not entirely clear who took part.
“The Government of Pakistan expresses its profound gratitude to the Government of Afghanistan and Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan for their willingness to work towards bringing lasting peace in Afghanistan. We also thank other partners in peace, including the United Nations, for their contribution to peace, stability and development of Afghanistan,” the Pakistani said.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hailed the meeting as a breakthrough, though the Taliban show no sign of easing up on their bloody summer offensive, launching two suicide attacks in Kabul on Tuesday as talks were about to get underway.
China played the role of an observer in Murree meeting and its foreign ministry too came up with statement describing the rendezvous in the hilly resort place as productive. It said that Chinese side always supports the “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” reconciliation process.
“China appreciates the flexible attitude and collective willingness for convening this meeting to advance the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” it added. Taliban and Afghan authorities had also held a meeting in China in May and Beijing reiterated that it was ready to work with relevant parties and play a constructive role.
According to a senior Pakistani official, delegates met from around 10pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, after they had broken their fast, to 4am on Wednesday. The atmosphere was “positive” and “warm” and it ended with the sides sharing “sehri”, consisting of tea, omelettes, yoghurt, fruit, curry and paratha flatbreads, he said.
“When they sat down for the sehri meal, it was as if they were celebrating Eid. There was a sense of celebration,” the official said. “Before this, Pakistan has been accused of double dealing, but this time there can be no doubt about our sincerity,” he added.
Sources believe that with the emergence of Daesh, Taliban felt threatened and wanted to make the peace deal with the government in Kabul before members in their ranks swear allegiance to Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS. But some analysts expressed fears that negotiations process could falter as a faction of Taliban in Kabul has distanced itself from it.
Rahimullah Yousufzai, a Pakistani journalist, told AFP it was an “important development” but warned the process was still at a very early stage. “But we need to see two-three elements: what is the peace plan? Have the different Taliban factions agreed to these talks?” he said.
Divisions within the Taliban movement, particularly between young battle commanders in Afghanistan and older leadership figures abroad, have hampered previous peace efforts. There has been no confirmation that anyone from the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, set up in 2013 to try to facilitate talks, attended on Tuesday.
Yousufzai said his understanding was that three Pakistan-based Taliban cadres took part. The Taliban issued a rather opaque statement on Wednesday, saying the “political office has full authority... to hold or stop negotiations whenever and wherever they feel fit”. A spokesman refused to clarify further but neither he nor the statement made any criticism of the Murree meeting.
Other factors may be feeding the militants’ caution, including the status of their leader Mullah Omar, about whom rumours of ill-health and even death regularly emerge, and complex relations with Pakistan. According to Reuters, the next round of talks is provisionally planned for Aug 15 and 16 in Doha, capital of Qatar, according to sources close to the participants.
Divisions within the Taliban over the peace process run deep. Top battlefield commander Abdul Qayum Zakir, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, objected to sending the delegation for talks with Kabul, according to a lower-level Taliban commander in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan.