“Peace Talks” colds as slowly taking shape: Analysts

Afghanistan Presidential Press Office has said that President Ghani cancelled his trip to Qatar due to focusing more on internal issues of the country and addressing to provide the plan of the first hundred days of cabinet.

It has been scheduled that President Ghani and the High Peace Council officially travel to Qatar on Friday.

“The trip delayed due to focusing more on internal issues of the country,” Hamdullah Muhib, president Spokesman said.

But political analysts are said to believe that the controversy of the  National Directorate of Security’s (NDS) cooperative agreement with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) caused Taliban do not attend for the talks and President postpone the trip.

They said Pakistan has a key role in Afghanistan’s peace and if Pakistan does not have any eager in it, the peace talks would not have any practical vision.

Meanwhile, some of other analysts said that President Ghani is likely to meet Taliban in secret but due to the disclosure the trip delayed.

According to them, the peace talks process should not be delayed any further.

“Unfortunately, politics in Afghanistan are behind the cartoons,” Mehrab Ali Safdari said.

Earlier, The Taliban’s reclusive leader said that his group is willing to start peace negotiations, even as he urges more attacks – including insider shootings by government security forces – on foreign troops.

In a wide-ranging emailed message, Mullah Mohammad Omar blamed America and the Afghan government for the derailment of talks months ago.

Despite the optimism, talks are unlikely to quickly lead to a peace agreement. Sharp differences remain on what kind of constitution Afghanistan would have—the Taliban want it strictly based on Shariah law—and there is no indication that either warring party is ready to lay down its arms.

After more than a decade of warfare, negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban are set to begin, officials, diplomats and experts said as President Ashraf Ghani declared that peace is closer now than at any time since the war began following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Ghani is on the cusp of getting Taliban insurgents to enter peace talks for the first time, helped by a combination of domestic and international factors that may push Kabul and the Taliban to the table, not the least of which is Ghani’s fresh approach.