Afghan Officials Resumes Peace Talks

The Afghan government negotiators sat with representatives of the Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami at an informal meeting in Paris this week and then at an academic conference in Kyoto, Japan, officials said.

Those attended the meetings included Ghairat Baheer of Hizb-i-Islami, ex-Taliban Planning Minister Qari Din Mohammad, ex-Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zayeef. Senior Afghan negotiator Masoom Stanikzai participated in the two-day peace meet in Kyoto from the Afghan side.

But the Taliban, in a statement on Thursday, insisted that their policies had not shifted, implying that the group still has no intention of talking to the Afghan government.

The representative in Japan was sent "only to clarify our position," the statement said.

The Taliban was halted the talks largely over a delayed prisoner swap that would see the Americans release five insurgent leaders imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay.

Maulvi Ataullah Ludin, deputy of Afghanistan's High Peace Council said that: "Taliban must understand that with foreigners, has no benefit to Afghanistan.

Taliban should end the war and joint in peace process."

He added that they have reached to create a joint committee to end the violence in Afghanistan.