Qatar panel tells Taliban to stop attacks, warns any govt established by force won't be recognised

The Afghan peace talks convened by Qatar on Thursday that included India have asked the Taliban to stop violence and attacks immediately in and against provincial capitals and other cities, and in a clear message to the group, also made it clear that they will not recognise any government in Afghanistan that is imposed through the use of military force.

The participants from the various countries in the August 12 dialogue also raised "grave concerns about reports from across Afghanistan with respect to continued violence, large numbers of civilian casualties and extra-judicial killings, widespread and credible allegations of human rights violations."

Other participants in the dialogue were Germany, Norway, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States and the United Nations. Doha hosted three different formats of peace talks between Tuesday and Thursday and India was invited for one of the three formats of dialogue following the visit of Qatari special envoy here last weekend.


Indian envoy to Qatar and Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) in MEA represented New Delhi at the talks. Participants also agreed that the peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of great urgency based on the negotiations of concrete proposals from both sides, according to a statement following the talks made available to ET.

“Participants urged both sides to take steps to build trust and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible,” the statement noted.

Participants also took note of converging statements of both sides on the guiding principles for a political settlement.