‘Big progress’ expected in intra-Afghan negotiations, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister says

Afghanistan’s top peace negotiator on Thursday said that “big progress” can be expected as the Afghan government and the Taliban inch toward talks that could commence next week.

A February peace deal between the U.S. and Taliban opened the door to American troop withdrawal from the country and eventual intra-Afghan negotiations.

Earlier this week, the Taliban’s leader finalized a negotiating team that is to have wide-ranging decision powers in the highly-anticipated negotiations. The talks were expected to begin August 20 but have been repeatedly stalled.

“We are much closer to the start of a piece negotiation than we have ever been before,” Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar said during a virtual event hosted by the U.S. Institute for Peace.

The talks are expected to establish a plan to rebuild post-war Afghanistan and include a permanent ceasefire, the rights of minorities and women, constitutional changes and the fate of tens of thousands of armed Taliban and militias loyal to Kabul-allied warlords.

“We are optimistic that next week we will be making a big progress in this respect,” Mr. Atmar said.

Under the U.S.-Taliban agreement that was struck on February 29, the Taliban agreed to not allow Afghanistan to become a base of operations for terrorist groups, and it also agreed to halt attacks on U.S. personnel.

While the Taliban has picked up the pace of attacks against Afghan security forces, U.S. officials say there have been few, if any, direct attacks on American personnel.

Mr. Atmar explained that the negotiations will be hosted by countries that strongly support Afghanistan’s peace process. “This will also be important for further building of regional consensus and support-based peace process,” he said.

— This story is based in part on wire reports.