KABUL: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Qatar for a bilateral meeting with top leaders but will not hold a meeting with Taliban officials even as peace talks are under way in the country’s capital Doha, officials said on Monday.

Negotiations between the Afghan government and Afghan Taliban that started last month are aimed at the warring sides agreeing to a reduction of violence and a possible new power-sharing agreement in Afghanistan.

Scores of Afghan soldiers and Taliban fighters have been killed in intensive clashes and suicide attacks have left dozens of civilians dead in recent weeks.

On Monday, a suicide car bomber targeted the convoy of a provincial governor in eastern Afghanistan killing at least eight people and injuring 30, including children, government officials said.

Political analysts and diplomats in Kabul said Ghani’s trip is aimed at seeking Qatar’s support in getting the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire.

“Several meetings are planned to discuss efforts for deepening Afghanistan-Qatar ties and mutual cooperation in various areas,” an aide to Ghani said, adding he would also meet the Afghan representatives who are holding talks with Taliban.

“But it is clear that Ghani will not meet the Taliban officials as there has been no reduction of violence and they continue to kill innocent civilians,” said a senior Western diplomat overseeing the peace process.

Suicide attack

A suicide attack targeting an Afghan provincial governor killed at least eight people in Jalalabad on Monday, officials said.

Twenty-eight people were wounded when the attacker rammed his explosives-filled vehicle into the convoy of Rahmatullah Yarmal, the governor of eastern Laghman province.

“The governor was driving to his office when his car was hit. Four of his bodyguards and four civilians were killed, 28 wounded,” the governor’s spokesman Assadullah Daulatzai said, adding that the governor was unhurt.

Interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian confirmed the attack and said most of the wounded were civilians.

The Taliban, who are religious hardliners, are insisting on adherence to Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, but the government negotiators say this could be used to discriminate against Hazaras, who are predominantly Shia, and other minorities in the country. Another contentious topic is how the US-Taliban deal will shape a future peace deal and how it will be referred to.

On Saturday, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives at the entrance of an administrative building in eastern Nangarhar province, killing 15 people, mostly civilians, officials said.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2020