Some factions within the Afghan Taliban are considering taking part in a peace process that officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan aim to revive next week, several senior members said, in a softening of the militants’ recent stance against talks.
Next week’s meeting in Islamabad between officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China is intended as the first step towards resuming stalled negotiations aimed at ending the 14-year-old war that kills hundreds each month and has intensified in the past year.
Whether the Taliban, increasingly dominant on the battlefield since the withdrawal of most international troops by the end of 2014 yet riven by factional infighting, eventually joins the talks is far from clear.
Even if it did, those present would only represent part of the Islamist militant movement fighting to topple the government in Kabul and restore strict Islamic rule in place before it was ousted in 2001.
But important elements of the Taliban have signalled they may be willing to send negotiators at some point.
Afghan officials say the meeting schedule does not include any Taliban representation, but they do not rule out the possibility of the group joining at some stage.
With security worsening, Kabul is trying to limit expectations of a breakthrough, and says the aim of next week’s talks is to work out a road map for peace negotiations and a way of assessing whether they remain on track.
Is there a Taliban at all?
After six months of worsening fighting, with the province of Helmand slipping out of control and frequent suicide bombings in the capital, Afghanistan and its neighbours are trying to return to peace talks, albeit without the Taliban for now.
Leadership divisions may impede progress, with some militant factions saying they will not take part.
The announcement last July, shortly after inaugural talks between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban were staged, that its founder Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for more than two years, threw the militant group into disarray, stopping the fledgling peace process in its tracks.
Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Mullah Omar’s longtime deputy, took over the leadership, but was rejected by parts of the movement which accuse him of covering up Omar’s death for his own gains and of being Pakistan’s puppet.
But Mansour’s faction has shown signs of warming to the idea of joining peace talks at some stage.
A senior Taliban commander said Sirajuddin Haqqani, Mansour’s deputy and the head of the feared Haqqani network blamed for a series of suicide attacks in Kabul, may take part.
The Taliban’s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said no formal negotiating team had been appointed, but he stopped short of a full denial of involvement.
By contrast, Mansour’s rivals, led by Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, are holding out.
For its part, the Taliban may look for signs of concessions in areas including 2011 UN sanctions that impose asset freezes and travel bans on its leaders.
