A five-member Taliban delegation claiming to represent all factions of the insurgent group met with Afghan officials in Istanbul, Turkey from Jan. 13-15. Then, on Jan. 15, a three-member delegation from the Taliban's political office in Doha, Qatar visited Pakistan to reportedly meet with representatives of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan political party. Official Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the idea that the Istanbul talks have anything to do with the insurgency. But Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, is reported to have authorized the Doha delegation's visit to Pakistan.
No formal talks with the Taliban have ever been held, and various indirect efforts have repeatedly failed, most recently in June, in the wake of a truck bombing in Kabul that killed hundreds at the entrance to the Green Zone, the diplomatic and government quarter.
Still, the talks this week suggest that all parties to the conflict — the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Taliban — are interested in exploring a pathway to resolution, however distant that may be.
