In a major breakthrough, the United States and the Taliban are highly likely to resume peace negotiations which broke down early this year due to Obama administration’s reluctance to set free five key militant leaders currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.
The talks, which were being held in Doha, Qatar between US officials and Taliban representatives, broke down in March this year after the two sides failed to agree over the fate of five Taliban leaders sentenced at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Under the negotiations, the Taliban were to set free US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, but refused after the US administration allegedly backtracked from its promise of releasing the five sentenced Taliban leaders.
The formal announcement about the collapse of negotiations with the US was announced by the Taliban on March 15 with their spokesman describing the American authorities as “shaky, erratic and vague”.
However, diplomatic sources in Islamabad say that with President Barack Obama’s re-election, the US authorities would be no more compelled to weigh the political repercussions of releasing or handing over the Taliban leaders to the Qatari government.
According to a source, direct contact between the US authorities and the Taliban started in November 2010 in Munich (Germany) with the help of German intelligence agencies. During the talks, US officials met Tayyab Agha, a close aide of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar. The Qatari authorities also played a vital role in facilitating US-Taliban contacts.
Sources said that further talks were held in Doha in February last year, and again in Germany three months later – the process that led to the establishment of the first Taliban political office in Doha at the beginning of 2012. Before their collapse, the US-Taliban negotiations focused mainly on the release of five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including three senior Taliban commanders: Noorullah Noori, Mullah Fazel, and former interior minister Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa.
According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan would also play a vital role in the success of the revived peace talks between the US and the Taliban. A Pakistani diplomat, when contacted, refused to comment on any possible role by Islamabad as a facilitator or guarantor of US-Taliban talks. However, he said that Pakistan was always willing to take all possible steps for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The diplomatic source in Islamabad said that now there were solid chances of revival of stalled US-Taliban peace talks because the Afghan insurgents led by Mullah Omar also seemed to be inclined towards negotiations after the decade-long war with the US-led international forces in Afghanistan. “However, any success of the US-Taliban talks mainly depends on what US has to offer to the Taliban who are being asked to lay down their arms, shun al Qaeda, and participate in the political process in Afghanistan,” he said.
