By Mujib Mashal
KABUL, Afghanistan — Representatives from the Taliban, the United States and several Asian countries gathered in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for what officials cautiously described as important meetings that could lead to formal talks to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan.
The optimism fostered by months of urgent American diplomacy was dampened by the Taliban’s apparent refusal to meet with a delegation of the Afghan government, although Afghan officials said late Monday that they had not given up hope that the two sides would talk.
The Taliban said in a statement on Sunday that they would meet representatives of the United States as well as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates. Those countries, American allies that have varying levels of influence over the Taliban, have been at the center of a Trump administration push to help shape the peace process.
The Taliban said nothing on Sunday about meeting with the Afghan delegation, even though government negotiators also arrived for the talks, said Mujib Rahman Rahimi, a spokesman for the Afghan government.
Afghan officials said late Monday that conversations to arrange a meeting were continuing. Senior officials met the other delegations and discussed the need for “direct engagement of the Afghan government with the Taliban,” said the Afghan national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said late Monday that Taliban representatives had “no plans to meet and will not meet with the representatives of the Kabul administration.”
The Taliban have long refused to hold formal talks with the Afghan government. The militants have insisted on first brokering an agreement with the United States, which the group sees as the force that toppled their government in 2001.
The group seems to have shown more flexibility in recent weeks after a series of meetings with Zalmay Khalilzad, the American envoy assigned to bring everyone to the table. Taliban representatives participated in a conference on Afghan peace hosted by Russia last month that was also attended by a delegation from the Afghan side.
In addition to meeting the Taliban on several occasions, Mr. Khalilzad has been visiting countries in the region and trying to persuade them to push the insurgents to the table.
Chief among them is Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have long taken sanctuary. The ability to keep bases in Pakistan has been an important factor in the group’s ability to withstand the military might of a broad international coalition, which at its peak included more than 130,000 troops.
The Trump administration has increased its diplomatic and financial pressure on Pakistan, at a time when the country is struggling economically. Afghan officials said that Taliban leaders based in Pakistan were in the United Arab Emirates for talks — in addition to members of the Taliban political commission, who are based in Qatar — a sign that Pakistan may be pulling its levers.
Thanks to the UAE for hosting the 4th round of quadrilateral meetings on Sunday between #Afghanistan, #UAE, #KSA and #USA. We discussed President @ashrafghani’s road map for peace presented at Geneva and direct engagement of Afghan Govt with Taliban for intra-Afghan dialogue
If formal talks begin, the peace process is expected to be a long and complicated process. After nearly two decades, the war has become increasingly complex and drawn in other regional players, including Russia and Iran.
Previous efforts to start official peace talks have failed. In 2008, delegations arrived in Oslo, only for the Taliban to pull out at the last minute, citing attacks against members of the group in Pakistan.
The Afghan government met with a Taliban delegation in 2015 in Pakistan. But the authority of the Taliban delegation was questioned, and that process came apart when news leaked that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, on whose behalf the group said they had come, had been dead for three years.
Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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