Taliban denies attending peace talks
The Taliban said it was not attending peace talks with the Afghan government in the Maldives.
Maldives spokesman Mohamed Zuhair said on Thursday that representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban members were meeting in the island nation this week to discuss an end to the nearly nine-year war.
A Taliban statement emailed to reporters said those at the talks claiming to be from the Taliban are no longer active members and “surrendered” to President Hamid Karzai’s government.
The talks were organised by Hizb-i-Islami, a Taliban-allied insurgent group which began negotiations with the government last March.
The government said it has no representative at the talks either although politicians are attending unofficially.
