This chapter is one of reconciliation progress not another chronicle of tears and bloodshed. Hailed as a historic opportunity that cannot be wasted afghanistans government meets the taliban for the 1st time to negotiate and and to 19 years of war they overcome persistent violence and contesting ideologies to offer any hope of peace. Welcome to the program. In doha what a diplomatic effort and decades of war in afghanistan is underway for the 1st time the Afghan Government and the taliban have met in the same rule its an achievement that follows dozens of rounds of talks prisoner exchanges and a cease fire against u. S. Forces negotiators from the highest level with sit face to face in doha to find a way to and nearly 20 years of conflict among the main challenges the establishment of a mutual and long lasting cease fire and the integration of the taliban into the government of afghanistan. For those we want all the people of afghanistan to be reunited under one roof again after more than 42 years of upheavals aggressions jihad and resistance all the negatives we all know what happened to us throughout these years and maybe stand today we now need to address this unique opportunity to move towards a new future that we can define together. We have acted accordingly to all the points outlined in the previous agreement and we are requesting the other side to act accordingly to those things that have been agreed to so we can have this process without any problems ahead we want of all understand to be an independent developed country and it should have a form of islamic system where all its citizens see themselves reflected. Correspondent. Is of the talks. For all of the relevant sides in the afghan conflict this was a historic moment as many of their leaders put it the afghan side saying that we need to learn to agree to disagree the u. S. Secretary of state saying that the afghans will not be left alone and the of gun bans saying that they are willing to negotiate and they are willing to learn and move forward from what is a new of one a son so it is a momentous occasion which has brought all of these sides together for the 1st time without their foreign backers or interlocutors where afghans will be facing off with afghans and resolving difficult issues such as the status of Security Forces worse is. The constitution in afghanistan figuring out whether its going to be an emirate or a republic are all issues which are going to be difficult to say the least but both sides are adamant that they are going to fold these differences they are adamant that they are going to continue to talk and make sure that they realize that only talks and talking to each other and sitting on the negotiating table and compromise is the way forward and there is no military solution so this is the 1st day of these talks if the road to achieve here was bumpy the agreement coming to an agreement is going to be even more difficult and that is something that all sides agree the americans saying that yes it is up to the afghans to decide but theyre not going to leave them alone if they want they can come back and facilitate the negotiations as well but afghans both here in the Country Capital doha and in kabul are hopeful with the cautious hope that this could lead to words lasting peace in afghanistan or inside story some of it out of their. Some more about who is leading these talks are the lobby is in charge of the Afghan Governments delegation has a former foreign minister and president ial candidate representing the taliban is this deputy chief more or less of a deal of money but other hes also a taliban cofounder and special envoy. Is the u. S. Negotiators born in afghanistan he served as u. S. Ambassador under president george w. Bush and barack obama. Lets bring in gas from kabul. A him Founding Member of the Afghanistan Affairs unit a think tank former member of the High Peace Council here in doha is sort of founding director of the center for conflict and humanitarian studies in washington d. C. Is a must ahmed former afghan ambassador to france and canada now a senior fellow of the Atlantic Council thank you all for joining us. Who would have thought that after all these years the 2 arch rivals the taliban and the government would sit together and negotiate a peace settlement isnt this a major development. Absolutely this is a watershed event as your reporter also said it is termed as an historic event and this is happening for the 1st time in over 4 decades of conflict in afghanistan where the conflict parties are sitting across the table to each other if you go back into into the history during the late eightys there was negotiations geneva a process that will score even there the parties didnt face each other on the negotiation table it was among the actors. d facilitating from outset here sitting under one single roof talking about issues talking to the media that is either put all of our that has been operating from kabul and theyre talking to them and on sitting to questions i think its a huge huge straight forward stride in terms of achieving peace in afghanistan but lets not get do you did by this progress the next step is the absolute. Difficult one crucial one and could decide the fate of this conflict so yes that is a lot of hope attached to it it is john significant move forward a lot of course just optimism sultan a few among the few years ago the taliban battered on the run they were determined that they were the only legitimate authority in afghanistan saying with peter leave there is absolutely no way they would meet with a puppet government this is the term that they have been using for many years to describe the political establishment incumbent no they made a massive concession and the sitting together with that government is not on its own a significant achievement. Of course it is so if you take it from the point of view of that there are a great object and that is to get the United States to its or its troops from afghanistan as a ready being no achieve there the 29th of february agree. Has committed the United States to scared out its troops and ultimately to recruits for and they see that bigotry is already there now theyre moving into a 2nd phase the 2nd phase which is also an integral part of the United States is about reaching a common understanding with the rest of the afghans as to the future of their country and this is very important in any event in order to allow the agreement that theyve struck with ministers to be implemented there and they cant go any further without making sure that there is a government that is. So grown acceptable by all and the government which the United States will hand over their military bases d and under and start a new set of relationship before we continue this is some of what the us secretary of state and mike brown pale said before the talks began each of you i hope you will look into your heart and. Each of you carry a great responsibility. But no no that youre not alone the entire world want you to succeed and if counting on you succeeding. Alma what do you think will be the issue which is going to top the agenda between the taliban and the Afghan Government in the coming days and weeks well there are a lot of issues of course in both sides are coming to this with their mind set on what the agenda should look like and its sort of the roadmap that needs to be figured out by both sides and they have already established 2 small committees of members each to look into this issue just in the past hour or 2 and to see how the agenda can be shaped in with that they will agree on the items on the agenda and on iraq as ing and then organizing and you wait that is possible and agreeable to pull out now but its part of our we do know. A lot of issues to talk about and i think the are very well organized in looking back at how did they have the americans theres a lot of experience there and they would like to see things sequence in a certain way kabul obviously have been focused quite a bit on how to reduce violence and their preference is to have a permanent ceasefire announced as an artist in this possible we dont know if its all about are going to agree to that would be going to condition that on some other than active cooling maybe how to deal with the the fact that afghanistan needs a transition so i think that the next few hours in the next few days are critical in terms of setting the agenda and path who the negotiations mushtaq we spoke earlier about those who are representing both delegation has a lot of below behalf of the Afghan Government and the ability any but of our own the help of the taliban how whether theres been some major of a shuffle over the past few days about the makeup of the taliban. Delegation with. A chief negotiator is this an indication of the taliban sending its toughest people to the talks in doha to ensure this absolutely no concession in the near future well one can see it from that perspective that you dont want to give any concession but my eating is different i believe some of the taliban bigwigs were not very much happy with the way things were being taken forward with the americans and there was a what do you attach to this process that we missed seeing a big break up among the taliban ranks in order to get wired dark and in order to make sure theyre done hardliners have a say in the Decision Making and remain on the top of the team or. Before so theres a wide any sort of a situation where the decision is made on a day negotiation table and that is not not backed by certain individuals or certain groups within the taliban ranks so theyre trying to make sure their doors who have more of a hardliner sort of stand there and Big Decisions so that which will it be easier it will be implemented with laws which are not that strong in the stands as far as n. T. Government or any american territory gets concerned so funny it was quite interesting that both my compel you and the last spoke about the need for a lasting cease fire to be implemented but do you think of this is something that could be possible given the fact that the taliban may not be willing to commit themselves to a massive concession before the can see that some of the calls have been reciprocated i think its possible i think. Gave. To the United States. It did refer to a ceasefire as being one of the men elements we discussed 1st cant meet it. So although the engine that is that to the afghans to where there are some. Pains that temporarily be agreed and cease fire reduction of violence is one. Time iran has been reluctant to insert into long cease fires for. The last 2 years but they have accepted the short cease fire is criticizing with the senate. And also they have accepted or introduced a new term of reduction of violence which has extended for some time however the now as the talks there is pressure from all sides to try and increase the heat on the nerve to get a greater degree of the sessions from from them so we are hearing that the taliban are trying to advance and share area in the north and also that some external countries are supporting you know no calls to arm against iran so all of these issues i think. Will be part of this discussion as we know it and i suspect as about the last fall for chief fire is is really the most important aspect for the majority of that dans final count on the ground if you have nearly 40 years plus in violence and for these talks to be be a full some kind of serious reduction in violence. d by. Arma from from allow mother all the way to able to law as a whole is a current leader of the taliban the central piece of the narrative was basically of the Islamic Emirate based on sharia law that has been the brits on debt what do you think that they were that would be able to make any concession about this and join jokes about incorporating set alloway of western principle of democracy to be able to bridge the gap with the government in kabul i think that. For most afghans. Going back to the ninetys they have. This notion that what the emirate stands or in most are uncomfortable with that i am not quite sure if the taliban will stick to a label be prepared i think to work with the system i think that they would focus on what kind of an islamic system will or can emerge as part of the talks at the place remember the that i understand that the need anything that has to indian to its people whether its the western concept of a system that doesnt work very well or whether its an islamic or extreme version our interpretation of a system that also is probably not so welcomed by most so what we need to do is create a bigger tent that can accommodate all the different persuasions that exist in this month a month a culture a society that constant is and we need to make sure that theres a balance between rule and urban between genders the ethnic minorities in all sought to come to an agreement that would require very thoughtful deliberation in discussions Going Forward between people who really know what it is about it shouldnt be about power struggle it shouldnt be about you know control over territories even thought that is an important aspect. When it moves to our system i think it will be on a bar and hopefully the other side. Which is which is largely just the government now they are after the tribes ok stay with us i want to work the u. S. Taliban agreement signed in february which paved the way for these talks it gave us and nato forces 14 months to leave afghanistan the pentagon plans to have fewer than 5000 troops and personnel remaining by the end of november in return the taliban committed to preventing other groups including al qaida from using afghanistan as a base to threaten the u. S. And its allies and the Afghan Government has freed nearly 5000 taliban prisoners and agreed in august to release more stuck one of the issues that people are not talking about think is going to be a major issue which is the ethnic divide in the country and you know that particularly the past to think to the point where the the government itself based in in kabul has suffered from this divide for for many many years would it be possible to turn that chapter to have the taliban and all the components of the nic divide. Move forward you see im honest i have been to quantico and that conflict has inflicted so many damages on the society its not. Right that is why i work in mississippi and some ethnic groups there is a divide of argue logically be wired among the different groups that we have omar samad talked about are been. Divided that we have done so many divides in this country and most of them are caused are inflicted by the long and protracted conflict now walking forward afghanistan is in certain need of a very strong force on flick peace building age and that there should be. Topped by a discussion of nation building but right now if you see 2 decades long even blown conference that was forced out of on time post 911 agreement on the current state system that that meeting was ended based on at no centric divide all of the power among different groups since then you have a hard polish shedding based on ethnicity thats going to be a major problem in future as well followed by normal taliban in any case afghanistan is need of a strong nation building your gender where ideologies whatt wishing for the future choose to proceed should exceed. Short sighted centric attitude towards politics and and state and has been so fun where do the play stand here were talking about russia India Pakistan and iran which have made just stakes in afghanistan. Well there are all of course very important to achieve a sustainable peace in afghanistan and some already declared position that its very much amnesty and every institution of the stomach ever it and that in a sense have drawn the line and this is i suspect why one of the today did not refer to reduce it to g m and it provides and seek it back in 2001 by the city to ferry to a system that is based on stomach because now i think that actually will not find a lot of resistance you know it can stand up to standards really this time its the public can stand on its own didnt want to hold off the and carol the country it is about how to structure the state and to what extent. Is is is. In the sort of hers and in the politics of the state. A i think it most of the very countries in support of peaceful afghanistan and they have come out day in the open surgery a lot of think clear. Or with the exception for truth the iran and it was on the edge and some reason that i mean what it did not there was no its a hunch by the fire so every other can see has spoken and very theyre supporting this process. Peace in afghanistan cannot happen with countries that cant stand and the company was not closed entirely locally and was not maintained iraq movement it is where it gets d a lot of proxies that are here that lots of funding from outside intervention and a couple of regional powers. Playing a cold war ok and stan as far as the situation pretty United States and the serpent united. Pakistan plays a crucial role in the region and it has been closely monitoring the situation in the country do you think that there will be. Wanting to move forward with an outcome that would see the taliban for example form a National Unity government along with the political establishment based in kabul well pakistan is an important player it has according to the americans played a constructive role so far according to some afghans they are very skeptical about what pakistan intentions still are going back to the ninetys and in the last 10 years or so but i think that we have reached a point i think that also like everybody else has learned a lot of lessons from the act on conflict and hoping that they will have a new paradigm shift that focuses on making sure that afghans can come together that they can poor something that is only back on the net and that stability in a condo can will be the consequence positive consequence of the region in the park this time so were hoping that they will plea deal to play a constructive role but afghans at the same kind of have to make sure that they play a role in the region that balances all the interests in does not create. A void for proxy warfare to take over again gentlemen i have one minute and i would appreciate 15 seconds answer from each of you would you see the horns and along the horns and along with the government in kabul meeting together in the near future announcing a National Unity government which that 1st its going to be a difficult part ahead or its it is going to be a difficult process but there is a lot of optimism attached to it unity government maybe Transitional Government probably in Term Government some sort of a monkey a should be part of the deal solve done. I think existing government resists any form of interim government. And it is natural i think its probably too early to talk about an interim government there are many other. Ringback groups for us shoes that need to be addressed before we go into ok were currently. Arm up well i think eventually we need a transition how is she going to depend on how these discussions grow in lazy construct it will be this will lose rule at the end of the day i think compromise and if you are going to be very more sites thank you lets see what happens in the coming days and weeks a definitely crucial moment for a country that has been beset by war divisions bloodshed and instability has stuck to him full time back at almost summer i really appreciate your contribution and your insight and thank you for watching you can see the program again any time by visiting our web site www dot com for further discussion go to our Facebook Page that facebook dot com for slash a. J. Its a story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a. J. Unsafe for a for me house and the entire team here in doha by phone or. 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