The Taliban negotiates with Afghan officials for the first time

IT WAS A breakthrough, albeit only by the forlorn standards of the 40-year conflict in Afghanistan. After two days of talks with Afghan officials at a posh hotel in Qatar, envoys of the Taliban promised that their insurgents would not attack schools, hospitals or bazaars. The Afghan government, too, said it would try to stop killing civilians. But more important than their woolly resolutions was the fact that the two sides were speaking at all. Officially, the Taliban insists that the Afghan government is an illegitimate puppet regime; it was only “in a personal capacity” that its envoys met Afghan officials, alongside politicians and representatives of NGOs.

The meeting was partly to break the ice and partly to brainstorm over a “road map for peace”. In addition to the resolution about avoiding civilian casualties, the vague, non-binding declaration also provided an outline of sorts for future negotiations on a peace deal. Women’s rights, the Taliban agreed, would be protected, albeit within an “Islamic framework”. By the same token, “institutionalising an Islamic system”, the delegates decided, would not involve dissolving government institutions such as the army.

The American government, which is hoping to find a face-saving formula to withdraw from Afghanistan, has long called for such a meeting. With the Afghan...

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