Officials: Taliban ready to join in Afghan peace talks

KABUL — Pakistani, Afghan and Western officials said Thursday that Afghanistan’s Taliban movement is ready to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government, which could open the door to a diplomatic solution to end the Islamist insurgency that has gripped the nation for more than 13 years.

The talks could start as early as next month, although it was unclear where they would be held, the officials said. But diplomats stressed that discussions on the terms of the talks were in their initial stages and that many obstacles lie in the way of achieving any significant results.

In a visit to Kabul this week, Gen. Raheel Sharif, Pakistan’s army chief, informed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that the Taliban was amenable to peace talks, said a Pakistani diplomatic official.

“However, this is the very initial phase, and it is yet to be decided when and where any such meeting between those two parties could be held,” the official said. “Afghan Taliban could meet representatives of the Afghan government next month, we believe.”

The Pakistani military said in a news release Thursday that Pakistan has “always supported” such a process and that any such endeavor should be “absolutely transparent, Afghan owned and Afghan led.”

According to local reports, four cities are being considered as possible venues for the negotiations: Kabul, Islamabad, Dubai and Beijing.

If the talks take place, they would represent the first direct negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government since the war began in late 2001, when U.S. airstrikes and Afghan resistance forces combined to drive the Taliban from power in Kabul after five years of harsh rule.

Although previous attempts to hold peace talks have failed, the current political, diplomatic and security environment could offer the best opportunity for negotiations. Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid Karzai, remained deeply suspicious of Pakistan, but the new president has sought to improve ties with Islamabad, long a backer of the Taliban. China also has emerged as a key player, offering to broker talks.