Sources close to the Taliban on Tuesday said a number of the group’s representatives who attended the Abu Dhabi talks were absent from the ongoing negotiations with the US in Doha, the capital of Qatar, Pajhwok Afghan News reported on Tuesday.
On December 17, 2018, US and Taliban representatives held a marathon meeting for three days to discuss a political settlement in Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, where representatives from Saudi Arabia, the host country and Pakistan attended the talks later.
A source from Taliban told Pajhwok Afghan News that a four-member Taliban delegation attended the UAE meeting under leadership of Mullah Muttaqi from Pakistan, without consulting group’s supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah.
The Taliban delegation to the UAE included Mullah Muttaqi, Mullah Abbass, Dr. Faqir and Qari Yahya and they were sent to the UAE without getting advice from Mullah Yaqob, son of Mullah Mohammad Omar and Sarajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s deputy leader.
The source said the mentioned figures were excluded from the Doha meeting and were not allowed to attend it.
The Taliban said Abbas Stanikzai, the head of the group’s Qatar office, was authorized to enter into any type of negotiations with other sides.
Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi was barred from any type of activities (after the UAE meeting), the Taliban sources said.
Some Taliban commanders also opposed the idea of sending Mullah Muttaqi to the UAE meeting.
The source added talks between the Taliban and the US went ‘successful’ in Doha meeting on Monday and the dialogue continued on Tuesday.
The Taliban said their agenda for the Qatar meeting carried two key points —the US forces withdrawal from Afghanistan and assuring the US that no one from Afghanistan would threaten others in future.
Before Doha meeting, US special representative for Afghan reconciliation process, Zalmai Khalilzad was in Islamabad for four days.
The US and Pakistan reportedly tried to arrange the new round of talks in Pakistan, but the Taliban refused to attend.
The Taliban in a statement said they did not meet the US representative in Islamabad.
