President Ghani has agreed to hold the next round of the peace negotiations in Doha, said Waheed Omer, head of the Office of Public and Strategic Affairs of the President, adding that the agreement was made based on the suggestion of the head of the negotiating team and the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation.
But Omer said that the government still maintains its stance that future rounds of talks–besides the next one–be held within Afghanistan.
Ghani met with Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Sunday at the Presidential Palace to address the next round of the peace talks, the Palace said in a statement.
Ghani and Abdullah have discussed the second meeting of the leadership of the council and issues concerning the venue and time of the next round of the peace talks, it said.
Meanwhile, Abdullah in a tweet said that they concluded the joint meeting between the leadership committee of the council with the Republic’s negotiation team on Sunday.
He said the committee reiterated its full support for the Republic’s negotiation team and decided on clear guidelines for the team for the next round of talks.
Abdullah added that the leadership committee decided that the next round of peace talks will take place in Doha, Qatar.
President Ghani on December 14 said that the next round of the negotiations should take place in Afghanistan. He said that “while the Taliban is claiming that they are on Afghan soil, why aren’t they holding talks on Afghan soil?”
He said the Afghan government is ready to negotiate with the Taliban in any area of Afghanistan that the group chooses.
The first round of the peace talks was held in Doha. The negotiations of the Afghan Republic and the Taliban were in Doha for 94 days during which they agreed on the procedural rules for the talks.
The negotiation team paused their talks for 23 days and agreed to resume the talks on Jan. 5.
