Political discord is a barrier to Afghan peace; Ex-envoy

He added, A number of factors have complicated the prospects of achieving peace in Afghanistan. “It is not as simple as the media outlets imply,” he stressed.

The talks in Doha, which began on June 29, are aimed at finalising a draft agreement on the potential withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. Germany and Qatar, which hosts the US-Taliban talks, said invitations had been sent to all relevant parties.

Maleki further pointed out several Afghan peace talks have been held by European countries, the United States and even some Arab states, but no output has come out of it, and there is no sign of peace until now.

“In the current circumstances, Afghans' hope for peace is diminishing day by day and one of the important reasons is contradiction between Afghan National Unity Government, the Taliban and United States.”

He said for example U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad announced in Pakistan that they reached to a desirable point, but then the Taliban spokesman denied it. “Intra-Afghan dialogue, and not continuation of U.S. intervention, is the only way to reach peace in Afghanistan.”

The former ambassador underlined that the Afghan government and Taliban need to compromise for the future of their country.

Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman in Doha, said that "80-90 percent work on the peace agreement is finished".

The United States has said it will not agree to the withdrawal of troops until the Taliban put in place security guarantees, implement a ceasefire across the country and commit to an "intra-Afghan" dialogue with the Kabul government.

There are about 17,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including a contingent of some 14,000 US soldiers, as part of a Washington-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces.

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