The Afghan Taliban has denied news of ongoing talks with the Kandahar peace council, however, accepted the peace talks being held in Qatar. — Photo by AP

KARACHI: The Afghan Taliban on Thursday has strictly denied news of ongoing talks with the Kandahar peace council in Pakistan.

However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi accepted the peace talks being held in Qatar with the United States.

On Wednesday, Kandahar peace council chairman Ata Mohammad Ahmadi had claimed they were holding talks with the Taliban in Pakistan.

“In the last 10 days, our peace council delegation has gone to Quetta three times in twos and threes,” he had said.

He had said that the officials had been meeting for “some time” with mid-level Taliban commanders in Quetta, where the leadership of the militant group is reported to be based.

While talking to BBC Urdu on telephone from Afghanistan, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said that peace convoys neither came to Quetta nor were any talks being held.

The Taliban spokesman dubbed the news story as “propaganda”; however, he said that the talks in Qatar were at the initial stage.

“Who has the authority to negotiate?” asks senior Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Mujahid claims that there are two stakeholders to the Afghan peace problem — the US and Taliban.

“We do not want to waste time talking to a side that does not hold any authority,” he says.

Opinion

Taliban’s road ahead
Updated 19 Aug 2021

Taliban’s road ahead

Without international legitimacy they cannot unlock the reserves or reactivate donor funding lines.
The perfect man
19 Aug 2021

The perfect man

Imam Husain exemplified perfection in every sense of the word.
Return of the Taliban
Updated 18 Aug 2021

Return of the Taliban

The new dispensation in Afghanistan will be required to alleviate the concerns over human rights issues.

Editorial

19 Aug 2021

Militancy concerns

HAVING made their way to Kabul like a hot knife through butter, the Afghan Taliban are saying all the right things ...
Horrific assault
Updated 19 Aug 2021

Horrific assault

There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to correct the public narrative around women’s rights.
19 Aug 2021

Decreasing FDI flows

THE consistent decline in FDI flows into Pakistan in recent years should worry our economic managers. The net flows...
Price of US follies
Updated 18 Aug 2021

Price of US follies

The birth of terror organisations like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda are by-products of America’s ideologically fuelled policies.
18 Aug 2021

Grotesque stunt

EVEN by the standards of the megalomaniacal Narendra Modi, it was an astonishingly ill-timed publicity stunt. A few...
18 Aug 2021

Facilitating SMEs

THE new three-year State Bank refinance scheme — SME Asaan Finance — for providing collateral-free bank loans to...