Craig Nelson and Saeed Shah, in the Wall Street Journal, report that U.S. power-broker Zalmay Khalilzad met with Taliban representatives, on Friday, in Qatar, where the Taliban has an office. Earlier today, Khalilzad met with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani.
Washington’s newly named point man for Afghan peacemaking met Taliban representatives in the Gulf nation of Qatar on Friday, a person familiar with the gathering said, as the Trump administration stepped up efforts to cobble together a road map for talks aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan.
U.S. Envoy Meets Taliban In Push for Afghan Peace Talks, Wall Street Journal
The Taliban spokes-identity Zabiullah Mujahid has confirmed the meeting.
A Taliban delegation has met with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict, the armed group said on Saturday, in the first official confirmation of talks between the two sides.
The meeting with Khalilzad and other US officials took place on Friday and talks will continue, the Taliban said in a statement emailed to journalists.
Afghanistan: Taliban confirms talks with US peace envoy in Qatar, Al Jazeera
Khaama Press names the Taliban representatives. The website Afghan Biographies, operated by who knows who, collects information on Afghan public figures, from a variety of uncited sources. I’ve linked to the biography pages of the Taliban representatives here. They all have a history of involvement in peace talks, going back years.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement said the Taliban political delegation consisting of the head of Qatar office Alhaj Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, deputy chief of the political office of Taliban Mawlavi Abdul Salam Hanafi, members of the political office Sherikh Shahabudin Delawar, Qari Din Mohammad Hanif, Alhaj Mohammad Zahid Ahmadzai, and Mohamamd Sohail Shaheen met with the U.S. delegation led by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on Friday.
Taliban release details of the meeting with the U.S. delegation in Qatar, Khaama Press
Mujib Mashal, at the New York Times, has a rundown on the meeting, partly putting it in context of the Afghan parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 20.
Nazar Mohammad Mutmaeen, an Afghan analyst who served as an official during the Taliban government and still maintains contacts, said that the meeting was a positive step toward a peace process even if the Americans did not get what they wanted.
“The United States was trying to make a meeting between the Taliban and Afghan government happen, but the Taliban did not accept that,” Mr. Mutmaeen said. “This was the first meeting where high-ranking officials from both sides met, and the second meeting between Americans and the Taliban. Such meetings have a positive impact in the peace process and should continue.”
The meeting in Doha comes days after the Taliban called on Afghans to boycott parliamentary elections next week. The insurgent group also said that its fighters would do everything possible to stall the voting, already delayed three years.
U.S. Officials Meet With Taliban Again as Trump Pushes Afghan Peace Process, New York Times
Afghanistan Analysts Network has a long series of in-depth articles on the elections. Their current summary is here: Afghanistan Election Conundrum (16): Basic facts about the parliamentary elections.
I see the current thaw in relations with the Taliban as going back to the unexpected announcement of a temporary cease fire, by Ashrah Ghani, in February. In July, Alice Wells, a U.S. career diplomat, met with Taliban officials in Doha. These were called talks about talks. A sticking point in negotiations concerns the sequence of initial talks by the Taliban, and the parties of the Afghan and United States governments. Newpaper reporting will reflect the intricate diplomatic dance on this issue.