Afghans Name Council to Ease Logjam on Talks With Taliban - nytimes

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a sign that a logjam in Afghanistan over entering peace talks with the Taliban could be easing, the Afghan government announced Sunday that it had named a council of senior political leaders who will appoint negotiators, create their mandate for talks and oversee their work.

The formation of the council — led by President Ashraf Ghani and composed of both current and former senior government officials and leaders of political parties and opposition groups — comes after months of bitter disagreements over the next steps for peace talks with the Taliban.

So far, negotiations have occurred only between the insurgents and American diplomats, without the Afghan government, an impasse that American officials have struggled to break.

The two sides are near an agreement on the withdrawal of American troops and on a Taliban pledge that Afghan soil not be used by terrorist groups to attack the United States and its allies, as Al Qaeda did in September 2001. But the United States has insisted that nothing can be finalized until the Taliban and the Afghans figure out the country’s political future.

The Taliban have refused to meet directly with representatives of the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the United States. The Afghan government has insisted on nothing less than direct negotiations, criticizing any move by political groups to engage with the Taliban as giving the insurgents unwarranted legitimacy.

Mr. Ghani, in opening the first meeting of the new council, expressed happiness on Sunday and thanked political leaders for creating a unified front under the government’s umbrella. - Read More

 

Afghans Name Council to Ease Logjam on Talks With Taliban - The ...