Afghan govt delegation, Taliban discuss peace talks in Qatar

After months of stalled negotiations, the Afghan government's negotiating team and the Taliban leadership met in Doha, Qatar on Friday to discuss speeding up peace talks.

"Today a meeting was held in Doha between the delegations of both negotiating sides," the Afghan government's peace team said in a tweet.

Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen also confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

"Besides Eid greetings, the two sides discussed the status quo and the speeding up of the intra-Afghan negotiations. They emphasized to continue negotiations after Eid," Taliban Spokesperson tweeted.

This comes as at least 12 people were killed in an explosion inside a mosque in Kabul on Friday afternoon despite a three-day ceasefire, TOLOnews reported. So far, no group has taken responsibility. Taliban in a statement had denied involvement in the attack.

A three-day ceasefire agreed by both sides came to mark the Eid holidays, following the surge in violence in recent weeks.

Earlier, the Istanbul conference was scheduled to take place on the issue of Afghan peace in April end but it was postponed indefinitely after the Taliban declined to attend.

US withdrawal from Afghanistan is underway and set to complete till September 11.

( With inputs from ANI )

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