Afghan govt, Taliban negotiators meet in Doha

KABUL: Afghan government and Taliban negotiators met in Qatar's capital Doha this week to discuss the peace process, the first known meeting in weeks after negotiations largely stalled earlier this year, a British wire service reported.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday that the heads of both teams, along with some of their negotiators, had met the previous day in Doha. "They discussed topics of the agenda, accelerating the Afghan negotiations process and reaching mutual understanding in this regard," he said.

The meeting was the first announced gathering of both sides since mid-May and after already-slowing talks largely broke off in April, when the United States announced it would withdraw its forces by September 11.