Nadery Nadery, a prominent member of the Afghan government negotiation team, made a strong remark against the Taliban, saying the insurgent group members were not “showing interest in attending formal meetings” in Doha, Qatar.

The comment by Nadery came on Wednesday, almost 20 days after the two warring Afghan parties resumed the second round of the Intra-Afghan talks on 5 January. Earlier also, the working groups from both sides had failed to conduct formal meetings for almost a week.

“...Nine days that formal meetings are not held and the other side ( the Taliban) is not willing to engage in talks to end the conflict and save lives,” tweeted Nadery. He also said, achieving peace and ending the war in Afghanistan remained the immediate priority for the government.

Significantly, the second round of the talks resumed after the US election result. The Taliban, experts believe, is waiting for some clarity from the new Biden administration with respect to the Doha deal. Anthony Blinken, the newly appointed US Secretary of State, earlier in a call with the Afghan NSA, expressed his intention to “review the US-Taliban agreement”.

Meanwhile, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the insurgent group’s deputy leader and political chief, led a delegation to Iran to discuss the Afghan peace process with the Iranian leadership. However, the Afghan government said they were kept informed in advance about the Baradar’s visit by the Iranian government.