US Secret Meetings with Taliban

Senior Afghan Lawmaker Slams US Secret Meetings with Taliban

"Details of the Afghan peace talks should not be hidden from the people of the country," Izadyar told Afghanistan TV on Wednesday.

He underlined the significant role of Pakistan in the establishment of peace in Afghanistan, and asked for Islamabad's honest cooperation in the peace talks.

Izadyar, however, welcomed the efforts being made for the establishment of peace in his war-torn country.

Taliban announced on Tuesday that they had struck a deal to open a political office in Qatar that could allow for direct negotiations.

In a statement, Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said that along with a preliminary deal to set up the office in Qatar, the group was asking that Taliban detainees held at the American prison in Guant?namo Bay, Cuba, be released.

Mujahid did not say when the Qatar office would be opened, or give specifics about the prisoners the Taliban wanted freed.

Meantime, Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan under the leadership of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, sent a delegation to Kabul in a move to hold peace talks.

Afghan High Peace Council welcomed the move by Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan for sending the delegation to take part in peace talks with the Afghanistan government.

Some analysts are skeptical of the prospects for meaningful peace negotiations with the Taliban.

The developments came as Pakistani media revealed last week that the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has removed the name of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar from the list of "most wanted terrorists."

The report came following Washington's secret meetings with the Taliban after one decade of war. US officials have held several meetings with representatives of the Afghan Taliban leader, headed by Tayyib Agha, in Germany and Qatar over the past months.

During the meetings, the US and Taliban negotiators reached a deal to transfer five Taliban militants, who are under custody in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, to Qatar. The removal of Mullah Omar's name from the terror list comes after the prisoner deal.

The founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has been in hiding since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Washington removed Mullah Omar's name despite its continued allegations that the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden were behind the September, 11 attacks in the US. Mullah Omar was Bin Laden's staunchest ally and most intimate friend.

FNA

It is just clear how US is trying to legitimate the presence in Middle East and how it tries to get the feed back of the terrorist attacks and killings done by Taliban forces.