
NTV Online Desk
September 12, 2020, 11:15
Updated: September 12, 2020, 11:17
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Taliban prisoners are being released from a government prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August. Photo: Collected
Peace talks with the Taliban are starting in Doha, the capital of Qatar, after 19 years of 9/11. For the first time, the Taliban and Afghan authorities are going to face each other. The Taliban has previously called the Afghan government "powerless" and the United States a "dance puppet."
The United States launched a military offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan shortly after the September 11, 2001, airstrikes on the Twin Towers in New York. That war has been going on for 19 years, killing more than 50,000 Taliban fighters. To end the long war, US President Donald Trump wants a permanent peace deal with the Taliban before the election. Al Jazeera reported the news.
Following this, Afghan and Taliban leaders gathered in Doha on the eve of the 19th anniversary of the historic Nine-Eleven. The meeting will start next Monday. Former intelligence chief Masum Stanekzai will lead the 21-member Afghan government. Abdullah Abdullah will lead the Taliban in the talks. Taliban assistant chief Mullah Beradar, Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhunzadar, special aide and Taliban chief justice Maulvi Abdul Hakim will also be present.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already arrived in Doha to mediate in Monday's talks.
The United States and the Taliban signed the first round of security agreements on February 29 this year. The United States and NATO agreed in an agreement that the Taliban would not allow al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organization in their area of control, and that all troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan within 14 months. But delays in enforcing the terms of the agreement did not reduce violence, nor did it return security to Afghans.