A delegation of Afghan political leaders, government representatives and women activists have arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, for talks with the Taliban political leaders to explore ways for peace in the war-torn country. The intra-Afghan conference will be held on Sunday and Monday at a five-star hotel in Doha, where the Taliban and the US are also involved in peace negotiations. Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said special groups of the Taliban and the US continued negotiations on Saturday. “There will be no talks on Sunday and the day after due to intra-Afghan conference. Talks will continue on July 9. We are satisfied at the progress in the talks and are hopeful that the remaining work will conclude soon. We have not yet faced any major hurdle,” Sheheen tweeted. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a separate statement and said the intra-Afghan conference will explore ways for peace in Afghanistan. Qatar and Germany will jointly host the conference which will be attended by nearly 60 delegates from Afghanistan, who will exchange views and hold discussions on peace process, he said. Sources say Afghan delegation is comprised of 52 people. Former president Hamid Karzai is not attending the conference, who was very active in previous intra-Afghan meetings in Moscow. None of the presidential candidate is also taking part. Taliban chief negotiator Sher Abbas Stanekzai will lead a 17-member Taliban delegation and will explain the stance of the Taliban, Mujahid said. “All invitees will participate on their personal capacity,” he said. The conference was earlier scheduled to be held in April but was postponed after differences surfaced over participants. Taliban sources say they have raised objections over the inclusion of government minister Abdul Salam Rahimi in the delegation that will take part in intra-Afghan conference. Sultan Barkat, a Qatari organiser of the conference, tweeted that the coming three days will witness the start of direct exchange amongst Afghans, including Taliban and some government officials, adding that all are attending in their personal capacity. Some of the important personalities who will take part in the conference include deputy of the High Peace Council Atta-ur-Rehman Saleem, former ambassador Omar Zakhilwal, former minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, former NSA Dr Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, former deputy foreign minister Hekmat Karzai, High Peace Council member Haji Deen Mohammad, former MP and known woman activist Fauzia Kofi, General Dostam’s son Batoor Dostam, former governor of Bamiyan Habiba Surabi and Hizb-e-Islami leader Ghairat Baheer. Separately, a US negotiator said the latest round of talks with the Taliban – now in their second week and paused for two days – has been ‘very productive’, denying that Washington has sought a fixed deadline for the withdrawal of its estimated 14,000 troops from Afghanistan as part of a final peace deal in the 17-year-old war. The US official in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where the Taliban maintain a political office and where talks are being held, said the US ‘definitely did not offer’ an 18-month withdrawal as part of a peace deal. The official spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the talks. The US negotiator said the deal being negotiated in Doha with the Taliban is ‘comprehensive and includes specifics on all four parts including a cease-fire, timeline, participating in intra-Afghan negotiations and counter-terrorism assurances’.