Germany, Qatar push for resumption of US-Taliban talks

As the US-Taliban peace talks in Doha remain stalled over the delay by Washington to set free some important Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay prison, Germany and Qatar, the two main facilitators, have accelerated their efforts for ending the stalemate and the resumption of dialogue. Germany, which had, last year, hosted the talks of US officials with the Taliban on its soil, has played the crucial role of bringing the Taliban’s senior leaders like Tayyab Agha to the table of negotiations with American officials in Qatar.
“It is Germany which has extended guarantees to the Taliban about the unrestricted travel of Taliban leaders to Qatar and stay there for talks with the American officials without fear of arrest and detention and also that the commitments that the two sides would make in talks shall be honored,” said a diplomatic source here on Sunday requesting anonymity. Apart from Germany, Qatar has also played vital role for the commencement of talks between the United States and the Taliban. “Qatar is uniquely acceptable to both US and Taliban leadership because despite being close Washington’s ally it has kept contacts with the important people in Taliban movement since its government’s fall in 2001 after the US led international forces attacked Afghanistan,” the source said.
He said now the two states were trying hard to get the US-Taliban talks restarted and that too soon, so that there was some forward movement on the prisoners’ issue, which would pave the way for the settlement of more complicated matters such as the future government in Kabul etc. The talks between the US officials and the Taliban representatives in Qatar were stalled when the US failed to transfer five Taliban detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison to Qatar, despite a commitment being made in this regard by Washington. The leaders of the Taliban, whose release is being demanded by Mullah Omar and his close aides include Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Nori, Mohammad Nabi Omari and Abdul Haq Wasiq. Another diplomatic source, who also sought anonymity, said of late, the US authorities had showed some flexibility on the contentious issue of the release of the Taliban leaders and it was likely that the Taliban negotiators led by Tayyab Agha and the American officials, would resume to sort out the matter of detainees and chalk out agenda for dialogue on other conflicting matters. “The US administration realises that it will have to set free the Taliban detainees if meaningful dialogue with the Taliban is the objective and this realisation could help in breaking the stalemate,” he said.