Afghan government finalizes negotiating team for talks with Taliban

Nearly after a month delay, the Afghan government has finalized a 21-member negotiating team that will represent the government in the intra-Afghan talks with the Taliban. The negotiating team was supposed to be finalized earlier but was delayed for multiple reasons, notably a political crisis over formation of an inclusive government that continues to challenge the legitimacy of a new and largely disputed government-led by Ashraf Ghani.

A 21-member negotiating team, including five women, reveals at a time when President Ashraf Ghani, under pressure by Washington, has held video conferences with Doha-based Taliban leaders to discuss what the US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, described as ‘technical aspect’ of the intra-Afghan talks. Following video conferences held between Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban’s Qatar office, Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Qatar office, wrote in a series of tweet that the two sides had agreed upon release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, who are under custody of the government.