SENIOR Taliban leaders, including one of the group’s founders, were holding another round of talks yesterday in Qatar with Washington’s special peace envoy as U.S. efforts intensify to find a negotiated solution to Afghanistan’s 17-year war, America’s longest.

The Taliban, some of whom arrived in Doha, Qatar’s capital, from Pakistan the previous night, raised expectations ahead of talks with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. “Yes, there is a possibility we will reach some results,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Leading the Taliban delegation in Doha was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the movement who was released last year from a Pakistani jail where he had languished since his arrest in a joint Pakistani-CIA operation in 2010.

Past rounds have focused on U.S. withdrawal of troops, which has been a standing Taliban demand, and guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used again as a staging area for terror attacks on the United States.

Khalilzad is expected to pressure the Taliban to hold direct talks with the government in Kabul, something the insurgents have so far refused to do.

The Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaida and its leader Osama bin Laden, ruled Afghanistan before U.S. forces invaded in October 2001. The Taliban today have resurged, carrying out deadly near-daily attacks on Afghan army and police forces and holding sway over almost half the country. They view the U.S.-backed government in Kabul as a dysfunctional Western puppet and have refused repeated offers to negotiate with it.

Baradar’s presence in Doha and his lead role in the talks with Khalilzad is considered significant because of his stature within the Taliban movement.

(SD-Agencies)