Negotiating Teams of Afghan Government, Taliban to Take End of Year Break, Source Confirms

KABUL, (Sputnik) - Members of the Afghan government negotiating team and their Taliban counterparts are expected to go on a break at the end of the month until the first week of January, a member of one of the teams told Sputnik on condition of anonymity on Saturday.

The intra-Afghan peace negotiations began in the Qatari capital of Doha on September 12. The talks were overshadowed by a series of disagreements and a surge in violence, including armed clashes and bomb blasts across the country.

In this Sept. 12, 2020, file photo, Taliban negotiator Abbas Stanikzai, center front, and his delegation attend the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, in Doha, Qatar. Afghanistan’s Taliban on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, welcomed a tweet from President Donald Trump in which he promised to have the last of the U.S.'s troops out of Afghanistan by Christmas. If that withdrawal happens, it would be months ahead of schedule and the tweet made no reference to a Taliban promise to fight terrorist groups — a previous pre-requisite for an American withdrawal.

© AP Photo / Hussein Sayed

On December 2, both sides announced that they had agreed on the rules and procedures governing the ongoing peace talks and that the substantive items on the agenda could now be discussed.