KABUL: American and Taliban officials resumed talks in Qatar on Wednesday aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, while the Afghan government hosted a rare assembly in Kabul to ensure its interests are upheld in any peace deal.
The Taliban issued a statement saying the US special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met the Taliban’s political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is heading the militants’ delegation.
“Views were exchanged about key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue,” its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The talks are part of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end America’s longest war, which began when US-backed forces ousted the Taliban weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Since October, US and Taliban officials have held several rounds of talks aimed at ensuring a safe departure for US forces in return for a Taliban guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used by militants to threaten the rest of the world.
“It is absolutely vital that the two key agenda points — full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from harming others — be finalized,” Mujahid said. “This will open the way for resolving other aspects of the issue and we cannot enter into other topics before this,” he said.
In this round, Khalilzad and his delegation are expected to focus on a declaration of a cease-fire as a first step to end the fighting, said a western diplomat in Kabul.
An official working closely with Khalilzad said he is expected to encourage the insurgent group to engage in Afghan-to-Afghan talks to find a political settlement to end the war, but Mujahid said the Afghan representatives were not allowed to attend the ongoing talks. “No other side except the US and Taliban representatives in the meeting, but some Qatari officials will remain present as hosts,” he told Reuters.
This week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani convened a rare grand assembly known as the Loya Jirga to set out Kabul’s conditions for peace talks with the Taliban.
The Jirga has a purely consultative function, but it carries significance in Afghan politics and society.
An intra-Afghan meeting involving the Taliban was scheduled to take place in Doha last month but a dispute about who should participate and in what capacity prompted the extremist group to pull out at the last minute.
The Taliban has so far refused to talk to Kabul and have labeled the Afghan government as a “US puppet.”
Ghani believes that backing from members of the Loya Jirga will strengthen his bid to be recognized as Afghanistan’s legitimate representative in the peace talks.
The assembly includes 3,200 tribal elders, politicians and community and religious leaders from all 34 provinces.
But opposition politicians and government critics, including former president Hamid Karzai, are boycotting the meeting. They accuse Ghani of using it as a platform to boost his status as a leader in an election year.
Omar Daudzai, Ghani’s special envoy for peace, said at the assembly he welcomed the US-Taliban talks in Qatar but Afghan voices should be heard at the negotiating table.
“The Loya Jirga is the rational and logical start of the peace talks,” he told reporters, adding that the assembly would also examine the role of foreign powers in Afghanistan.
The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, that is training and assisting the Afghan government’s security forces in their battle against Taliban fighters and extremist groups such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda.
Intense fighting is still going on all over the country, and while the Taliban are negotiating, they now control and have influence over more territory than at any point since 2001.
![]()
US and Taliban resume talks as Kabul seeks role in peace process
US and Taliban resume talks as Kabul seeks role in peace process
- The talks are part of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end America’s longest war
- Khalilzad has been tasked with finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s 17-year war and America’s longest military confrontation
Terror at Friday prayers: Witnesses describe blast rocking Islamabad mosque
- The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications
ISLAMABAD: A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an “extremely powerful” explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Lax security
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
Lax security
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.