Afghan President Ghani travels to Qatar for bilateral meeting amid peace talks

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has headed for Qatar to hold a bilateral meeting with Qatari leaders for the peace negotiations in the country's capital city Doha. Ghani, however, will not hold talks with Taliban officials, President of Afghanistan—ARG Presidential Palace updated in an official statement. Negotiations between the Afghan government and Afghan Taliban have been underway after the United States and the Taliban signed a peace deal in Qatar three months ago that paved a way for the intra-Afghan dialogue. 

Ghani will hold talks nearly a month after the intra-Afghan peace meeting that was held in Doha last month, in September, and was presided by the political leaders Qatar and a delegation from Kabul and Afghan government representatives. The two sides discussed the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan. However, the parties are yet to reach decisions on more challenging issues such as scaling down violence and a ceasefire, a foremost demand of Afghans to reach a new power-sharing agreement. "In addition to meeting with the Emir of Qatar, the Prime Minister and other officials in the capital Doha, President Ghani is scheduled to address diplomats, professors, scholars, and students at the Doha Institute," the ARG Presidential Palace wrote in an update.

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Afghan-Taliban conflict unabated

Conflict in Afghanistan continues unabated despite embarking on negotiations. According to an Al-Arabia report, only last week, as many as 14 Afghan soldiers and police were brutally killed in a conflict that broke out in southern Afghanistan, as violence gripped the region. Taliban launched an overnight assault on several Afghan security force positions making Afghan troops vulnerable, risking the government-controlled district of Giza to the insurgency. In retaliation, the Afghan air force conducted multiple strikes on Taliban positions in the northeastern province of Kunduz, that killed more than 30 insurgent fighters.

During his travel, the Afghanistan President is expected to take a halt in Kuwait to attend the funeral ceremony of late Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, according to a close aide’s information revealed in the media. The Western diplomat overseeing the peace negotiations was also reported saying that the Afghan president will also hold meetings to strengthen the Afghanistan-Qatar ties. Ghani’s travel comes amid the fresh onslaught of conflicts across Afghanistan that make negotiators’ talks more challenging.

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