Afghanistan's Peace Talks Are Going Nowhere

The Kabul government sees a Doha-based Taliban office as a 'first step' in the peace process [Ali M Latifi/Al Jazeera]

Taliban Talks In Doha Drag On Endlessly -- Al Jazeera

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Taliban representatives have been in Qatari capital for almost a year, but negotiations seem to be going nowhere.

Doha, Qatar - Far from the glistening glass and burgeoning metal structures that dot the Doha skyline, the Afghan Taliban try to discreetly blend in far less pristine areas around the Qatari capital.

The Taliban came to Doha nearly a year ago to establish an office from which they could engage in negotiations with representatives of Washington, in the hope of eventually achieving direct Afghan-to-Afghan talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai.

However, with a coalition of more than 40 nations currently involved militarily in Afghanistan, "everyone is trying to woo them", a person close to the Doha-based Taliban representatives told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, saying he did not want to jeopardise any potential for progress towards peace.

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My Comment: I cannot even describe how skeptical I am of these talks. In fact ... these are not talks .... this is all just theater done by Westerners who hope that progress will eventually come. Hint .... the Russians tried the same thing in the 1980s .... talks and putting together jirgas with the hope that peace would be found .... but it ended with the disaster that got us into this mess in the first place. And now we are repeating history.