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An ongoing run of meetings is being held in Doha as the Taliban continues to take over ever greater chunks of Afghanistan. On August 11, talks began between delegates of the Afghan government and the Taliban in the presence of representatives from the U.S., Russia, China, and Pakistan, the extended Troika. This was preceded on August 10 by meetings with Afghanistan’s neighbors, plus Russia, the EU, the UK, the United States, and the UN.

The two warring parties continue to trade barbs The Afghan government said the Taliban doesn’t want negotiations, but rather wants to take over the country militarily, and called for a mediator on the matter. The Taliban insisted that they did want a negotiated solution, but claimed that the Afghan government had rejected the need for a mediator.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imre Khan, who has been playing a central role in the negotiations recently, expressed pessimism after the initial meetings, saying that the Taliban insisted in discussions with him that they could not negotiate as long as Ashraf Ghani was president. He spoke from Pakistan.

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