After six months of signing the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the United States of America and the Taliban in Doha, the intra-Afghan talks kicked off yesterday in Doha. Doha again gets the Taliban and the Afghan government sit face-to-face on the negotiating table for the first time.
This achievement was not possible unless the Qatari mediation and all parties concerned put their joint exerted efforts to create a favourable atmosphere by resolving the outstanding problems to smooth the ground to have fruitful negotiations. For the well-experienced and skilled Qatari mediators may be it is a matter of time to get the warring sides reach an agreement to end nearly two decades of war that claimed lives of tens of thousands and displaced internally and across borders millions of Afghans.
The high level participation of key actors of the Afghani war, and regional powers reflect the sincere desire and will of these parties to put an end to the suffering of the Afghan people and this was expressed in the speeches and comments leaders made pertaining to these talks. Key speakers at the opening ceremony yesterday included US Secretary of State H E Mike Pompeo, Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Chairperson of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, and Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
All of them pushed towards ending the ongoing misery of war in Afghanistan calling on the two warring parties to “seize the opportunity” and decide their political future as US Secretary of State Pompeo stated. Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said both parties must “rise above all form of division ... by reaching an agreement on the basis of no victor and no vanquished”.
The entire world wants these talks to succeed as many see it an ideal chance for lasting peace in Afghanistan. The United Nations, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Nato welcomed the start of intraAfghan talks and UN chief Antonio Guterres considered the talks a “major opportunity to achieve the long-held aspirations of the people of Afghanistan for peace”. The State of Qatar which is investing its diplomatic and political efforts in settling regional and international conflicts has gained trust of factions, entities and countries, with ability to create a conducive environment for complex peace talks and now it appeals to all Afghan leaders to work together to bring lasting peace to their people.
