Representatives of an Afghan militant group are holding talks in the Maldives, said officials on Thursday.
Maldivesgovernment spokesman Mohamed Zuhair says 15 representatives of the Afghan government and seven Taliban members met on Thursday and would meet again over the weekend.
But officials in Kabulsaid they did not believe any active members of the Taliban were present though some former members of the Islamist movement were.
Instead, the meeting included members of Hizb-i-Islami, a Taliban-allied insurgent group led by the former Prime Minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, which sent a delegation to Kabulin March to discuss peace with President Hamid Karzai’s government.
Humayun Jareir, a prominent member of Hizb-i-Islami and Hekmatyar’s son-in-law, told The Associated Press in Kabulby telephone that he organised the Maldivesmeeting to bring together people who are influential in both Afghanistan’s government and insurgent groups to try to come up with ideas for a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan. – (AP)
