Posts tagged: Doha

Speech by Dr Abdullah at the opening of the Afghan peace negotiations in Doha

Doha, 12 September 2020 REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF HIGH COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION H.E. DR. ABDULLAH ABDULLAH  at THE OPENING CEREMONY OF AFGHANISTAN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS in DOHA-QATARSEPTEMBER 12, 2020 Unofficial English translation Excellencies; HE Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani the foreign minister of State of Qatar;HE Mike Pompeo the United States Secretary of […]

12 Sep 2020

Two Parties Too Wary for Peace? Central questions for talks with the Taleban in Doha

Christine Roehrs • Ali Yawar Adili • Sayed Asadullah Sadat •

For the first time, representatives of the Afghan government and the Taleban are coming together, officially and in person, to negotiate power-sharing and peace.  While the start of the talks was somewhat delayed by disagreements on the last prisoners to be released, the negotiating teams in Doha are now ready to go.  But there are big questions […]

11 Sep 2020

Still Ifs and Whens: The US and the Taleban inch toward a bilateral agreement

Thomas Ruttig •

There have been increasing indications over the past few days that the United States and the Taleban are edging toward an agreement – or possibly two. While a declaration of a mutual ‘reduction of violence’ seems imminent, a bilateral US-Taleban agreement opening the way to peace negotiations between the Afghan parties to the conflict appears […]

13 Feb 2020

US-Taleban talks: An imminent agreement without peace?

Thomas Ruttig • Martine van Bijlert •

News coming out of the latest round of US-Taleban negotiations suggest that an agreement is imminent, but that in the desire to meet the White House’s 1 September 2019 deadline, the US have made concessions that may well complicate an actual peace agreement in Afghanistan. It appears that the US have dropped the “nothing is […]

30 Aug 2019

AAN Q&A: What came out of the Doha intra-Afghan conference?

Thomas Ruttig •

Representatives of Afghanistan’s warring parties and civil society met at a peace conference in Qatar’s capital Doha on 7-8 July 2019. They all participated ‘in their personal capacities’ in order to circumvent the Taleban’s rejection of direct talks with the Afghan government. The conference that took place behind closed doors ended with a joint final […]

11 Jul 2019

Before Doha 7: Afghanistan peace efforts recovering from a lull?

Thomas Ruttig •

The seventh round of United States-Taleban talks in Doha is imminent. But US-Taleban negotiations in Doha for a negotiated solution to the Afghan war have been stalling in recent rounds, after some initial progress. So far they also still exclude the third key actor, the Afghan government. Parties in the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue have also […]

29 Jun 2019

“Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”: First steps in Afghan peace negotiations

Thomas Ruttig •

With the US-Taleban negotiations in Doha actually addressing how to end the Afghan war, and with first progress being made in the form of an agreed draft framework, Afghanistan seems to be slowly inching beyond the impasse of only ‘talks about talks.’ With this, a peace process has possibly left the starting blocks, but only […]

4 Feb 2019

The Taleban in Qatar (2): Biographies – core and constellation (Amended with more details)

Kate Clark •

The very public cutting of a red ribbon marking the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar on 18 June 2013 and the videoed raising of their flag allowed the world to see, for the first time in many years, a public face for the clandestine insurgent group. It has also allowed an initial assessment […]

24 Jun 2013

Qatar, Islamabad, Chantilly, Ashgabad: Taleban Talks Season Again? (amended)

Thomas Ruttig •

There has again been movement in the positions marking the landscape of ‘reconciliation’ or, more precisely, of contacts and possible negotiations with the Taleban seem to be moving again. A track II meeting, labelled as ‘intra-Afghan’ talks, was held in France and, before that, the so-called ‘HPC roadmap’ leaked, indicating a more active role of […]

31 Dec 2012