Years of bloodshed. We want to stand to be an independent developed country and it should form of the small mix sister. Know that youre not alone. The entire world wants you to succeed and its counting on you succeeding and International Players express support and call for a permanent ceasefire. Also ahead on this news hour a gold mine collapse in the democratic republic of congo has killed at least 50 men. And bahrain agrees to normalise times with israel and the 2nd u. S. Brokered deal the palestinians have called it another betrayal. And in sports the u. S. Open is said to have a 1st time grand slam champion alexanders democratic came from 2 sets down to. The germany will face dominate team in these final. Ok lets get going now its been hailed as a historic moment the taliban and the Afghan Government in the same room facing each other for peace talks the warring sides are in the cattery capital doha to find a political solution to end nearly 20 years of war Abdullah Abdullah whos representing the government has called for a permanent ceasefire as soon as possible to end years of bloodshed follows a flute we want all the people of afghanistan to be reunited under one roof again after more than 42 years of upheavals aggressions jihad and resistance all the negatives we all know what happened to us throughout these years and maybe stand today we now need to address this unique opportunity to move towards a new future that we can define together. Well the man leading the taliban delegation mullah baradar says they are prepared to negotiate but he has reiterated the groups demands that afghanistan must be run according to islamic law there but. We have acted accordingly to all the points outlined in the previous agreement and we are requesting the other side to act accordingly to those things that have been agreed to so we can have this process without any problems ahead we want of understand to be an independent developed country and it should have a form of islamic system where all its citizens see themselves reflected. Well the u. S. Is backing these 1st direct negotiations the us secretary of state mike pompei o flew to the half of what he called a momentous occasion. Each of you i hope you will look inside your heart. Each of you carry a great responsibility. But know no that youre not. The entire world want you to succeed and if counting on you succeeding well cats are as i mentioned is again hosting the talks as foreign minister says this is an opportunity for both sides to rise above divisions. Not have it and these negotiations represent a keen sensitive phase to the Afghan People to find solutions to all controversial matters i hope you agree with me that today we must overcome the past and its pains and focus on the future and the hope it brings us will surely drawing lessons from the past all of this requires everyone to embrace the future with enthusiasm experience and a firm belief in the right of the Afghan People to enjoy Peace Security and unity and to follow in the path of progress and never be left behind. Live to 0 as correspondent of some of. Those talks osama theyve got these people in the same room thats compelling to start with. But it is symbolic because in it weve been hearing about an afghan led afghan on Peace Process and now it seems to have begun to see the former Afghan Government which was toppled by the taliban that represented by the person who as Vice President has been leading his forces against the taliban meeting the man who is the cofounder of the taliban someone up there are there and im going up there or you heard from both of them in the same room kicking off this this talks process which is going to continue for days and months and it has taken months and months of negotiations by not just the afghan side but their interlocutors as well from the United States to pakistan and others to try and bring these 2 sides on the same table and it is the beginning as as you heard from not just the afghan delegation but from the a brother as well seeing that admitting that there are multiple obstacles on the road ahead but they want to make sure that the negotiations the process of talking to each other rather than talking at each other begins you heard from the country foreign minister as well saying that this will only succeed as long as there is no victor out of bank wished these 2 sides go beyond that and try to work through words a future of my pompei are saying that it is not just these people who are in this room who are involved in this future generations of afghanistan will be able to look back at this occasion and say and then decide what was the outcome of these talks and it must end in lasting peace for afghans but the taliban saying we mentioned in our introduction of some of the taliban saying on the one hand we are prepared to negotiate but yet signaling at the same time there are certain things that we really are. Want to get to i. E. There are a big issues that we are not presumably prepared to negotiate on. Quote from what weve gathered from the taliban delegation here is that they say every side is coming to these talks with an agenda we have our own and the gun then the gauge and has its own agenda they still dont recognise the Afghan Government as the ruling government they call it a party to the afghan conflict distend a geisha has a Cross Section of members of leading of gun Civil Society as well as political leaders so it is it has been tough getting here but it is going to be even tougher Going Forward a lot is at stake and then lot of questions on the future of whether it is going to be the emirate or the republic is it going to be run by the taliban fighters are the Afghan National army what is going to be the role of the men and minorities and earlier i spoke to the former spokesman and a member of the taliban delegation and asked him if there is a timeframe for when we can expect results from this. Of course there are obstacles there are a lot of skill when you are a started to talk. With them that americans about the draw of the troops on understand ending the occupation but after talks. In the i use. The long discussion wed each our solution and be harder. To give me in sign but it would mean dont paint him unfit were the enemy i am hopeful that he did meet beam bumps in the week ahead right wendy we would reach a solution thats critical to. The Afghan Government wants a humanitarian cease fire to begin with the taliban looking for a Representative Government which represents all sections of the Afghan Society and hinting towards an interim set up so it is going to be a long process but it. Has begun in the Country Capital after nearly 2 decades of war and there is cautious optimism not just here in the Country Capital but also from the people that you spoke to in the Afghan Capital that this could lead to words lasting peace in afghanistan just one final brief point of sama critics of the taliban might say they cant be trusted they might say theyve shown they cant be trusted particularly since the last round of talks in february here in kandahar for everyone involved in the Peace Process if we can call it the Peace Process now is there an acceptable level of violence from the taliban but everyone else could live with and chalk that up to be just being part of the Peace Process as they bring everyone involved in the taliban on message. When the criticism was not just on the taliban as well as my own when he was here referred to of bandstand as the graveyard of empires in the United States agreeing to leave it kind of elated the position that the taliban had and the unsigned agreement was that as long as the taliban are not capturing territory the fighting will continue and there were loads in the fighting there were temporary ceasefire that im going up to the looted to israel but the taliban did not stop fighting and that is their leverage on the ground you have got in the government for on that side once a humanitarian pause once a cease fire because thousands and thousands of gun lives have been lost in the fighting if you speak to the taliban they say theyre not advancing theyre protecting their positions and theyre stopping the government from expanding its territory if you talk to the government it says that the taliban continue to attack its position and there is no peace in afghanistan and how can any talks succeed without peace in afghanistan so it is like i said before it is going to be difficult and there is obviously lack of trust on all fronts these sides have been at war with each other thousands and thousands of our guns have been killed by. Either side but they want to turn over a new leaf and they want to start to talk how is that going to happen how much success are they going to get and will it result in something which will be acceptable to all sides is going to be decided in the weeks and months they will check in again with you in a couple of minutes but in the meantime thank you very much for some of the in the well Foreign Ministers from several countries have attended the talks virtually as well as the u. N. Secretary general and tourney a good terrace says its critical that afghan women and their voices are represented at the peace talks an inclusive Peace Process in which women use and victims of coffee that meaningfully presented offers the best hope of a sustainable solution all parties must do their part to ensure that women participate in a variety of roles and that the Peace Process reflects the experiences and the expertise and the afghan women in all their diversity issues Foreign Policy chief says nothing short of a full and a permanent ceasefire should be accepted its no longer enough no all preconditions are fulfilled nothing should prevent a ceasefire from being accepted and implemented by both parties. This process must now be truly owned and led by afghans. Well its taken time to get the 2 sides to be in the same room back in september 2800. 00 as ill make a little was appointed as the u. S. Special envoy american diplomats military representatives and the taliban have held more than a dozen rounds of negotiations and they were briefly called off by the us President Donald Trump in september of last year when taliban fighters killed an american soldier in kabul i was just days after the 2 sides had reached a Draft Agreement formal talks restarted in december with a deal signed in february this year in qatar that paved the way for these peace negotiations with the government in kabul intra afghan talks were meant to begin but they were delayed lets talk now under what kinseys a senior afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis group he joins us from tunis welcome back to the news hour if the taliban have turned over a new leaf why now well its not clear if the taliban have turned over a new leaf as much as it become clear to tell about an unwilling to explore options that they had not previously previous times. This option of negotiations leading to a conclusion of the outcome of conflict is something that the group was not always as open to as they are now whether the group is willing to completely change and to accept compromise i think that remains to be seen in these negotiations as they go forward how much of this is driven by the delegation from islamabad pakistan has the longest land border with afghanistan compared to any other bordering countries pakistan has had a problem with the Pakistani Taliban ok the Afghan Taliban is a slightly different deal so how much of the impetus towards genuine peace is coming from imran khans government. Its a good question and pakistan has long been on the minds of all off guns especially when it comes to the Afghan Taliban the question of sanctuary and support and the relationship there but really for these talks as you just noted goes back to late 2018 when the shift in United States policy towards afghanistan really drove a change and a series of developments that has led us to this point it was the u. S. Determination that it should. This was this was a the i yes i can hear you andrew were having problems with the line well give it one more go if you will just pick up with what you were saying for us. And sorry about that so the United States and its policy changes in deciding that to speak to the taliban without the Afghan Government presence really broke the deadlock in the talibans position its refusal to accept the Afghan Government as an equal negotiating partner and all of the steps that the United States led by the efforts of special representative. Up until today really were the driving force including pressure from the United States on pakistan to lead to this moment and at what point do they get down to the nitty gritty you know today here in doha the optics everyones Drinking Coffee everyones kind of mulling around and theyre having off agenda conversations of course thats a positive thats a massive plus but sooner or later theyve got to deal with the big issue and they cant change the optics they cant alter the choreography of that that much. Its true in many ways today was really a ceremonial events and the questions on everyones minds will only be answered as these talks become substances but ive been told by colleagues in doha today involved in preparing these talks that some of the primary figures on each side have already begun meeting even as the ceremony was wrapping up this morning. Figures from both sides were meeting behind closed doors and i was told theyre there theyre supporting team members were for the 1st time in history in the hallways joking conversing and the body language was warm with the team but also with genuine hope ok andrew well leave it there many thanks for joining us from tunis there a special analyst on the affairs of afghanistan. Well the conflict of course has had a devastating impact on the lives of afghans have been waiting for peace for decades it began with the u. S. Led invasion in 2001 at least 44000 civilians were killed and in the past 19 years 64000 Afghan Security forces have been killed 42000 taliban fighters and their allies have also died 2400 u. S. Troops plus 1500 nato and other Coalition Forces have died in this conflict and the fighting has forced close to 3000000 afghans into exile such as into neighboring pakistan that weve been talking about making them the worlds 2nd Largest Group of refugees well nato says the alliance does remain committed to afghanistans long term security. Stood with the Afghan People for the last 19 years we are now adjusting our troop presence in afghanistan to support the peace efforts. At the same time we remain committed to changing and funding Afghan Security forces to help safeguard the Afghan People well for more on this joining us on the news. Hes in kabul hes the Founding Member of Afghanistan Affairs unit and a conflict peace and Security Specialist mushtaq nice to talk to you again for the people of afghanistan or potentially what could this mean well it means a lot there is a lot of skepticism about this whole process because in the past no Peace Process has resulted or desire has produced a desired result but then there is optimism attached to this. Is there finally the conflict has reached as the caller can rightness and it is very poor. Quality. Settlement so people are really looking forward because there are not many options available to the people so even if they have skeptical still significant hopes to the ongoing process what does this mean when we come to the idea of reconciliation because every successful Peace Process around the world they using the word reconciliation in some of the labels the titling today here in doha it involves a peace and Reconciliation Commission or a Commission Type setup are we years away from seeing that in afghanistan or are we light years away from seeing that in afghanistan. Well of course i mean did we have we can see a. Follow up to the integration of be. Fighting taliban who the peace building process the nation building process breaking the north centric silos thats going to be a long process that really effort is required to achieve a reality conciliation afghanistan a way and all of groups are able to live together and strive for betterment of the country but yes this process is going to be off at a moment importance because of cost and foremost we need this ongoing bloodshed to stop and have an opportunity where dialogue can please we have social integration among different. Skin can happen and it is a possibility of dialogue caught of being. 7 realistic future vision for this country ok mushtaq heres the thing when you talk about best cement when you talk about negotiations somebody is going to have to move on all these big issue