|
 Pakistan hosted the meeting in a tentative step towards ending
more than 13 years of war in neighboring Afghanistan, where the
Taliban have been trying to re-establish their hard-line Islamist
regime after it was toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in
2001.
The next round of talks is tentatively planned for Aug. 15 and 16 in
Doha, capital of Qatar, according to sources close to the
participants.
Tuesday's meeting was hailed as a "breakthrough" by Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif.
But it was far from clear whether the budding peace process could
end an escalating conflict that kills hundreds of Afghans every
month.
Divisions within the Taliban over the peace process run deep. Top
battlefield commander Abdul Qayum Zakir, a former Guantanamo Bay
detainee, objected to sending the delegation for talks with Kabul,
according to a lower-level Taliban commander in Kunar province in
eastern Afghanistan.
Just ahead of the talks in Pakistan, the Taliban launched two
suicide attacks in Kabul on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding
three.
 A U.S. drone strike also killed a former Taliban commander who
pledged loyalty to Islamic State and had seized territory in the
eastern province of Nangarhar.
U.S., CHINA INVOLVED
Officials from the United States and China were observers at the
talks held on Tuesday in Murree, a hill resort near Islamabad, a
statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said.
"The participants agreed to continue talks to create an environment
conducive for peace and the reconciliation process," the statement
said.
In recent months there have been informal preliminary contacts
between Taliban representatives and Afghan figures, but Tuesday's
event was the first official meeting.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the United States welcomed
the talks in Pakistan, calling them "an important step toward
advancing prospects for a credible peace".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China backed
the process and was in touch with all sides. China hopes peace in
Afghanistan will help it keep stability in Xinjiang, where Beijing
says it has been battling Islamist militants.
Afghanistan's foreign ministry called the meeting "a first step
toward reaching peace" and confirmed another round would be held
after Ramadan ends next week.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has promoted the peace process
and encouraged closer ties with neighboring Pakistan in a bid to
achieve his goal, first announced the talks on Tuesday.
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Sharif cautioned in remarks released by his office that the effort
would be difficult and said Afghanistan's neighbors and the
international community should ensure "nobody tries to derail this
process".
DIVISION AMONG TALIBAN
The Taliban's official spokesman has in the past disavowed tentative
moves towards a peace process, saying those meeting Afghan officials
were not authorized to do so.
The participants in Tuesday's meeting "were duly mandated by their
respective leadership" according to the Pakistani statement.
Taliban political leader Akhtar Mohammad Mansour authorized the
delegation to Islamabad for talks over the objections of battlefield
commander Zakir, according to the Taliban commander in Kunar.
"The problem is it (the meeting) further deepened differences
between Mansour and Zakir," he said.
"Zakir ... threatened Mansour that he and his men would either set
up another group or would join Islamic State if he did not stop the
negotiations."
Pakistan has in recent months pledged to pressure Taliban leaders,
many of whom are believed to be hiding in Pakistan, to come to the
negotiating table. In February, Pakistan stated bluntly that Mansour
and Zakir must agree on talks.
Because Zakir holds sway over several thousand fighters in eastern
Afghanistan, it is uncertain whether any ceasefire, likely be the
first demand by Kabul, could hold.
Silent throughout the process has been Mullah Mohammad Omar, the
Taliban's reclusive supreme leader who has not been seen in public
since the Taliban was toppled.
Some disgruntled Taliban commanders question whether Omar is alive,
and several have switched loyalty to Islamic State, the Middle
East-based group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and
Syria.
(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, Pakistan and
Hamid Shalizi in Kabul.; Editing by Paul Tait, Nick Macfie and Mike
Collett-White)
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