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A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 13 March 2019
Longest US-Taliban peace talks see 'progress' in Qatar

By FAY ABUELGASIM Taliban have said it can
KATHY GANNON agree to a general prom-
Associated Press ise, but remains unwilling to
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — The identify specific groups in its
longest peace talks be- pledge.
tween the U.S. and the Osama bin Laden's suc-
Taliban to end America's cessor in al-Qaida, Ayman
17-year war in Afghanistan al Zawahri, is believed to
concluded Tuesday night be hiding in Afghanistan.
in Qatar, with both sides Scores of other militants
saying progress had been from Arab countries, in-
made. cluding Yemen and Saudi
The nearly two weeks of Arabia, are also believed
talks produced two draft to be living in Afghanistan.
agreements between the The Taliban, who refuse to
militants and the U.S. gov- talk with the government
ernment on a "withdraw- in Kabul and describe it as
al timeline and effective a U.S. puppet, have long
counterterrorism mea- demanded direct talks with
sures," American envoy the U.S. but until Khalilzad's
Zalmay Khalilzad wrote on appointment last Septem-
Twitter. ber, Washington had shied
The diplomat said he'd go In this photo released by the Pakistan Foreign Office, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood away from opening face-
to Washington and meet Qureshi, left, meets with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, to-face negotiations. The
with other concerned par- March 12, 2019. Taliban, who had harbored
ties, likely including the Af- Associated Press al-Qaida and its leader, bin
ghan government, which Laden, ruled Afghanistan
did not take part in the 13 on both of those issues. It tiation teams," the state- when U.S. forces would before U.S. forces invaded
days of face-to-face talks stressed no cease-fire deal ment read. withdraw. The Taliban want in October 2001, following
in Doha, the Qatari capital. had been reached, nor It wasn't immediately clear a withdrawal within three to the 9/11 attacks. The Tal-
"The conditions for #peace any agreement for it to when the next round of five months, while the U.S. is iban have made a major
have improved," Khalilzad speak to the Afghan gov- talks would begin. saying it will take 18 months comeback in recent years,
wrote. "It's clear all sides ernment. A Taliban official at the to two years, he said. and today carry out near-
want to end the war. De- "For now, both sides will de- talks, who earlier spoke to Another sticking point daily attacks on Afghan
spite ups and downs, we liberate over the achieved The Associated Press on would be a demand from security forces. That has
kept things on track and progress, share it with their condition of anonymity as America that the Taliban made a peace process
made real strides." respective leaderships and he was unauthorized to re- guarantee Afghanistan even more pressing and
The Taliban issued their own prepare for the upcoming veal details of the negotia- would never again host President Donald Trump
statement, similarly saying meeting, the date of which tions publicly, said the main militants that would launch has expressed frustration at
"progress was achieved" shall be set by both nego- sticking point remained an attack against it. The the protracted conflict.q
UN warns thousands trapped in Yemen's northern flashpoint

the past six months, with cent civilians continue to jour tribes also belong to
over 5,300 families fleeing die needlessly in a conflict the same Zaydi Shiite sect
from the district and its sur- that should, and can be as the Houthis.
rounding area in the past solved," said Lise Grande, But after the Houthis tried
weeks, according to the the U.N. humanitarian co- to use the district to send
U.N. Office for the Coordi- ordinator in Yemen. weapons and reinforce-
nation of Humanitarian Af- Yemen's Houthi rebels im- ments to other front-lines,
fairs, or OCHA. posed tight control over where they have been
Hajjah's mountainous dis- Kushar after powerful lo- fighting Saudi-backed forc-
trict of Kushar, only 50 kilo- cal tribesmen took up arms es, the deal collapsed.
meters (31 miles) from the against them. The Houthis The recent developments
border with Saudi Arabia subsequently shelled the in Hajjah — where the total
has been hit particularly district — home to 100,000 number of displaced due
hard — roads and all com- people — and killed and to the fighting numbers
munication lines are cut wounded scores of civil- around 30,000 — under-
and "thousands of civilians ians. Thousands were dis- score the fragmentation of
In this Oct. 1, 2018 file photo, children sit in front of moldy bread are reportedly trapped be- placed. As the Houthi the Houthis' support base in
in their shelter, in Aslam, Hajjah, Yemen. tween conflicting parties," siege strangled the area, northern Yemen, where the
Associated Press the U.N. said. the Saudi-led coalition air- rebels have mostly been
Over the past days, air- dropped food and medi- in control since the start of
By MAGGIE MICHAEL trapped in an embattled strikes by the Saudi-led co- cine to the tribes. the conflict.
Associated Press northern district, an area alition, which is fighting on The district's tribes, in a Yemen's civil war has killed
CAIRO (AP) — A U.N. hu- that has become another behalf of Yemen's interna- 2012 deal with the Houthis, over 60,000 people — both
manitarian agency warned flashpoint in the country's tionally recognized gov- had remained neutral in civilians and combatants
on Tuesday that thousands bitter civil war. ernment, killed 22 people, Yemen's civil war, which — and displaced 3 million,
of Yemeni civilians caught The number of displaced including women and 14 erupted in 2014, and were pushing the already impov-
in fierce clashes between in the impoverished district children in the area. in return left in peace on erished nation to the brink
warring factions are of Hajjah has doubled over "It is outrageous that inno- their lands. The area's Ha- of famine.q