Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy for Afghanistan, on Saturday said the latest round of talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, has been the "most productive" so far.

"The six days have been the most productive of the rounds we have had with the Taliban… we made progress on all the issues that we have been discussing," Khalilzad said in Doha.

US-Taliban talks will resume on Tuesday after an intra-Afghan dialogue, facilitated by Germany and Qatar.

Read more: Afghan peace talks: Renewed bid to kick-start progress

Suhail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban's office in Qatar, also expressed his satisfaction over the latest round of peace talks with the US.

"We are happy with the progress and hope the rest of the work is also done. We have not faced any obstacles yet," he tweeted.

The earlier rounds of US-Taliban talks did not yield any substantial result, but hopes for a breakthrough are high this time around. The main reason behind this optimism is the Taliban's willingness to engage with the Afghan government, which complained of being sidelined in peace negotiations.

The Islamists, who ruled the country from 1996 until the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, had dubbed the Afghan government a "US puppet" and refused to talk to them.

Read more: Taliban-US peace talks reopen in Doha

Intra-Afghan dialogue

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani insists that no agreement to end the 18-year conflict in his country could be reached without his government's active involvement.

Read more: Afghanistan: President Ghani seeks to restore his legitimacy with a Loya Jirga

It appears that the Taliban have agreed to show flexibility on their dealings with Kabul, but the group insists that the Afghan delegates attending the two-day talks will only do so in a "personal capacity."

Washington has made it clear, however, that the Taliban must talk with the Afghan government if they wish to seal a peace deal.

A previously planned meeting between Afghan representatives and the Taliban in April collapsed due to a disagreement over the size of the proposed 250-strong Afghan delegation as well as over its official status.

This time at least 60 Afghan delegates are reportedly taking part in the two-day intra-Afghan dialogue starting on Sunday. The Afghan delegation includes various stakeholders, including former mujahedeen (Islamic warriors) who fought the Soviet Union in the 1980s, as well as former government officials, former ambassadors, civil society representatives and a small number of women.

Asila Wardak, an Afghan Peace Council member, who's attending the intra-Afghan talks in Qatar, told DW that the Sunday discussion was "quite general and not specific."

"We'll have a detailed talk later today and on Monday," said Wardak.

The Afghan delegate said that the Taliban representatives admitted that "they do not want a monopoly on power in Afghanistan."

Read more: Afghanistan: Peace without women's rights?

"Some individuals, who represent Afghanistan, are holding direct talks with the Taliban in Qatar. These individuals will share views about the current situation in Afghanistan with Taliban members," Waheed Omer, an adviser to President Ghani, told a news conference in Kabul on Sunday.

"The Afghan government and its international allies are working on an agreement to be sealed before September. We can have 'serious peace talks' after that," Omer added. "Afghanistan can only achieve lasting peace if an elected government represents the Afghan in peace negotiations."

Withdrawal or ceasefire?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hopes for a peace agreement before September 1.

The Trump administration, however, is demanding a ceasefire agreement amid continued Islamist violence in the war-ravaged country.

Last week, the Taliban claimed a truck bomb attack in Kabul that killed six people and wounded 105 civilians, many of them children.

Watch video 04:47 Share Afghanistan envoy speaks to DW Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/36oI8 German envoy to Afghanistan expects legitimate election

But the Taliban demand a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan before agreeing to a ceasefire.

Wahid Muzhda, a Kabul-based security analyst, told DW this could be risky. "We don't know if the Taliban will then agree to talk to the Afghan government or demand an interim government that they could become a part of," said Muzhda, adding that participants of the meeting urged all sides to avoid civilian casualties in case a ceasefire agreement was not reached.

"Taliban did not comment on a potential ceasefire agreement but US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad said last night that significant progress was made in this regard," Afghan Peace Council member Wardak said on Sunday.

The US official in Qatar denied reports that Washington was ready to pull out all troops from Afghanistan. The official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the US "definitely did not offer" a withdrawal as part of a peace deal.

The US negotiator said the deal that is being hammered out in Doha with the Taliban is "comprehensive and includes specifics on all four parts including a ceasefire, timeline, participating in intra-Afghan negotiations and counterterrorism assurances."

"We can expect progress if we define progress as movement toward a troop withdrawal deal," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told DW. Such a deal, Kugelman added, could only be counted as a win for the Taliban, not for the US or the Afghan government.

"That's certainly progress for the Taliban, but not for the US, which has repeatedly said that there can be no agreement until both sides agree on all the issues on the table," he underlined.

Read more: Why is the Afghan peace process not moving beyond talks?

Additional reporting by DW's Pashtu-Dari department.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Fragile security Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan A long series of attacks The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Spring offensive In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Trump's Afghanistan policy US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Afghan peace process Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Pakistani support Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan Role of the warlords Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.

Endless battle for power in Afghanistan An inefficient government In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism. Author: Shamil Shams



Every evening, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.