ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) can be the venue of a meeting between the United States and Afghan Taliban leaders that is expected to be held today (Monday), sources said on Sunday. They said Pakistan would sponsor the meeting. “We will see the content of the conference what it is about when shared with us,” a Taliban source told Daily Times. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, did not offer any comment when a query was posted on WhatsApp if the Taliban would attend talks. There was also no official word by Pakistani on the meeting. Khalil Minawi, director of the Afghan official Bakhtar News Agency, confirmed the Monday’s meeting on his Twitter account. He said officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, UAE and the US met in UAE on Sunday that would be followed by the Pakistan’s sponsored US-Taliban meeting. Taliban had earlier insisted that only the Qatar office was tasked to hold political negotiations and there was no confirmation if the Taliban political envoys or other leaders would take part. The development comes days after a Taliban delegation of political representatives from the Qatar office arrived in Pakistan. Prime Minister Imran Khan speaking in Peshawar had stated that Pakistan would facilitate talks between the US and Taliban two weeks after President Donald Trump sought Pakistan’s help in Afghan peace process. The prime minister and other leaders had promised support and facilitation in the talks. US special reconciliation envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had held meetings with Taliban officials in Qatar in October and November; however, there had been no decision during the meetings and the UAE meeting could be an effort to take the process to the next level. The US wants some progress in the talks with the Taliban and at the same time it wants to counter the Russian diplomatic offensive for political solution to the conflict. Taliban participation in the Moscow-format consultations was a major boost for the Russian initiative but a frustration for the US and some sources in Pakistan’s believed that the country will help in view of the US anxiety. “The US is obviously nervous about Russian and Chinese moves to take a lead in efforts for peace, reconciliation and restoration of stability in Afghanistan,” a Pakistani source said. There is an impression that the Moscow consultations were particularly disliked by Americans for having achieved something — bringing Taliban into a political process for the first time. This is something that the US could not do earlier due to its intransigence and more lately due to the prevailing confusion within the US, due to visible divergences on Afghan issue among the deep state and the Trump administration. The Moscow consultations, on the one hand made the Taliban a political entity, and on the other formally opened a door to engage the Taliban in a political consultative process in an international setting, demonstrating that engaging a political dialogue was possible among Afghan factions. Moscow also demonstrated its ability and political skill to bring almost all important stakeholders in Afghanistan around the same table. All this has set a serious diplomatic challenge for the US. It is now compelled to demonstrate something similar, and technically superior, to retain its credibility in a peace process that it had arrogantly rejected until recently. A Pakistani source is hopeful that the UAE meeting can “lead to a process and basic understanding between the US and the Taliban”. Published in Daily Times, December 17th2018.