Afghan Taliban ready for talks with govt

RAWALPINDI: The top leadership of Taliban in Afghanistan has agreed to hold talks with the Afghan government.Sources close to the Taliban in Afghanistan told the BBC that the top leadership of Taliban in Afghanistan had given a green signal to hold dialogue with the Afghan government.
Earlier, Pakistani officials had made contacts with the Afghan Taliban and suggested to them to hold talks with the Afghan government. On it, the Afghan Taliban said that they would give a reply to this offer after getting permission from their top leadership. However, the Afghan Taliban did not formally validate the process of talks. But it is the policy of the Taliban that they do not confirm anything until solid things come to surface.
On the other hand, a delegation of Taliban from Qatar, headed by Qari Din Muhammad, is about to visit Pakistan. According to information, Qari Din Muhammad visited Pakistan some days ago and returned to Qatar after consultation. It should be cleared that Qari Din Muhammad also led the Afghan Taliban delegation which visited China last year.
On the question of objective of Afghan Taliban delegation’s visit to Pakistan, a former leader of Afghan Taliban said that the purpose of the visit of Taliban delegation was to hold consultations with Pakistani officials and it was likely that the office of Taliban would be reopened in Qatar. It should be remembered that the Taliban office in Qatar opened in June 2013 but was temporarily shut down after a month.
Discussion is underway among the Afghan Taliban that the dialogue team should be upgraded and the head of the talks team Tayyab Agha should be replaced with a senior leader.It should also be remembered that Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had visited Afghanistan and met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and after that visit, the pace of talks between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban accelerated.