The opening ceremony of the talks aimed at ending the 19-year-old war in Afghanistan began on Saturday, and negotiators representing the Afghan government and the Taliban movement will sit face to face in the Qatari capital, Doha, starting tomorrow, Sunday.

The negotiations between the Afghans came out of the womb of an agreement concluded between the United States and the Taliban last February, which provided for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for peace guarantees and pledges from the Taliban to enter into negotiations with the Afghan government, which the movement had previously refused. .

(1) What do the conversations cover?

  • The first round is expected to be largely related to administrative matters, and lead to other rounds of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the fighting.

  • Negotiators will aim to set a timetable, and may seek a ceasefire, and a number of thorny issues will need to be addressed later.

  • Among the main challenges of subsequent rounds: how to involve the Taliban - which strongly opposes the legitimacy of the Kabul government - in any government arrangement, and how to protect the rights of women and minorities that suffered under the Taliban.

(2) Who is in Doha?


  • A team of 21 Taliban members joined the opening ceremony today, along with 19 negotiators representing the Afghan government, while two of the government delegation remained in Afghanistan for health reasons.

  • US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

(3) Who is negotiating?

  • US and Qatari officials helped open the talks, but negotiations will be between the Taliban and Afghan government delegations, while Washington and other international powers, including Germany, help sponsor the process.

  •  The government team represents a cross-section of regions, ethnicities, political affiliations, and leaders of former armed factions.

  • The Taliban team includes a number of members of its ruling central committee, and is headed by Abdul Hakim Haqqani, a former Taliban chief judge, who also chairs the powerful Council of Religious Scholars.

(4) Why is Pompeo there?

  • Ending America's longest war, launched by former President George W. Bush shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, is a major foreign policy goal of President Donald Trump.

  • Trump is keen to talk about any success in the race for his re-election to a second term, given his decline in opinion polls, which is why there is Pompeo.

(5) Why Doha?

  • Doha is a neutral territory for the two warring parties, far from their ongoing conflict at home.

  • It is the place where the agreement between the United States and the Taliban was negotiated, and the headquarters of the Taliban's political office, which was inaugurated in 2012.