The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Doha will host the Afghan peace negotiations, which will start tomorrow, Saturday, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived to participate in these negotiations.

Muhammad Masum Stankzai - who took over the Ministry of Defense and Intelligence in the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani - is heading an Afghan delegation that includes representatives of political parties, civil society and women's rights.

As for the Taliban team, it is headed by Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Haqqani, and it also includes Sheikh Abdul Hakim Ishaq Zai, chief justice of the Taliban, in addition to other officials in the movement.

Hope Pompeo

In a statement on his way to Doha, Pompeo expressed his hope that the negotiations would represent an opportunity to end 40 years of war, and he expressed Washington's hope that the Taliban would abide by the pledges they have made.

Pompeo added to reporters while traveling to Qatar that the two sides should explain "how to push their country forward to reduce violence and deliver what the Afghan people are asking for: Afghanistan is reconciled with a government that reflects a country that is not at war."

US President Donald Trump pressed for the withdrawal of US forces and an end to the United States' longest war that began nearly 20 years ago, when Washington invaded Afghanistan and toppled the rule of the Taliban movement after the September 11 attacks.

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan welcomed the upcoming face-to-face peace talks between the Afghan parties in the Qatari capital, Doha, and the UN mission urged all Afghan leaders and negotiators to seize what it described as a historic opportunity to end the fighting and enter a new era of peace and stability.

Valuable opportunity

For his part, Afghan Foreign Minister Hanif Atamar said that the Afghan peace negotiations that will take place in Doha are a valuable opportunity that must be used to bring peace to Afghanistan, and added - in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera - that the government side will request in the first round of negotiations a ceasefire in all parts. Country.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Taliban delegation to the Afghan talks, Muhammad Nayn Wardar, said in a tweet that an open meeting will be held during the talks, which will start tomorrow, Saturday, in the Qatari capital, Doha.

In a related context, the US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said that he hopes the Afghan talks will lead to an end to the long-running war in the country, but added that many challenges remain.

Khalilzad told reporters on a conference call that the United States will engage with the participants, and will be ready to provide assistance when necessary, but it is the two parties who will decide how to proceed.

"This is a new stage in diplomacy for peace in Afghanistan. We are now entering a process for Afghans and led by Afghans," he added, adding that he hoped the talks would produce a roadmap to end the war.

It is noteworthy that the Afghan government has completed the release of about 5,000 prisoners, and the movement demanded their release as a precondition for the start of peace talks, and the peace agreement also provides for the gradual withdrawal of all foreign forces, in exchange for the Taliban giving up armed action.