Quetta Taliban displaying signs of flexibility, says Afghan peace council chief

Karachi, Mar.1 (ANI): The Quetta-based Taliban have started to show signs of flexibility towards dialogue, according to the head of a provincial Afghan peace council.

"From what I've heard from Afghan tribal elders who have met former Taliban commanders 'in their individual capacity', they're willing to talk peace," the Express Tribune quoted Haji Ata Muhammad Ahmadi, chairman of the provincial peace council in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, as saying.

Ahmadi added: "They (Taliban) are also fed up with fighting - nobody can fight for ever."

However, he clarified that the Kandahar peace council, in its official capacity, hasn't sent any delegation to engage the Quetta Shura in talks.

fghan and US officials have long believed that the Taliban hierarchy - known as the Quetta Shura - is based in Quetta from where it is directing the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Pakistan, however, denies the existence of the shura.

Though Ahmadi's senior colleague in Kabul sought to play down the Kandahar initiative, he shared Ahmadi's optimism.

"Let's not play up this development," said Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, senior member of the Afghan High Peace Council. (ANI)