Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, on Thursday said that the Taliban’s hard stance on talks was not helping the situation.

“At this moment, the Taliban has taken a hard stance, which unfortunately not helping the situation,” he was quoted by TOLOnews as saying. His comment came in the backdrop of the Taliban’s non-participation in dialogue in Doha, Qatar.

Under the US-Taliban agreement last year, the Taliban pledged to negotiate a power-sharing agreement with the Afghan government to end the conflict. Among other commitments, the Taliban was also expected to significantly reduce violence in the country.

In the same agreement, all foreign troops were expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021. But the new Biden administration in the US made it clear that they would review the US-Taliban deal, including whether the Taliban followed its part of commitments.

The second phase of the Intra-Afghan dialogue started on 5 January. The Afghan insurgent group, however, has not been attending the meeting in Doha, Qatar. Experts say the group seems to be waiting for clarity on the US-Taliban deal, signed by the Trump administration in 2020, from the Biden administration on the US-Taliban deal.

"Our delegation is still in Doha and we are in contact and we hope this deadlock is only short-term,” Abdullah said, hoping the insurgent group would resume talks. 

Earlier, the Taliban also hinted that they would resume their attacks on foreign forces should they extend their stay beyond May 2021. A recent report by the Afghanistan Study Group- a group mandated by the US Congress to review Afghan policy- recommended against pulling out all troops by May 2021.

However, experts also warned that the Taliban might pull themselves out of the Intra-Afghan negotiation if foreign troops didn’t withdraw within the May deadline.