Afghan politicians and the Taliban join forces in Doha as the fighting continues for Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan politicians met with representatives of the Taliban insurgents in Qatar on Saturday, despite the fact that each side has stepped up its fight for peace and uprooted thousands.

The two-decade-old conflict has worsened as U.S.-led international forces have withdrawn and the Taliban have launched offensives in Afghanistan as districts and border crossings surround provincial capitals.

Negotiators have been meeting in Dohan since September, but have not made any significant progress with the timing of the full departure of foreign troops by 11 September.

“Let us … take important steps to continue the peace process, to prevent the killing of people,” said Abdullah Abdullah, head of the General Council for National Conciliation in the government, which will last two days at the beginning of new high-level talks.

“With blood we can’t afford the price of that and we can’t escape responsibility,” Abdullah said.

Abdul Ghani Baradar Mullah, the Taliban’s deputy leader and negotiator, deplored the lack of progress. “But there should still be hope and the Taliban will make every effort to ensure that the talks have a positive outcome,” he said.

In the latest impact of the fighting, about 12,000 families in northern Takhar province have been forced to flee their homes while fighting continues, local officials said.

Many gathered at a school in the provincial capital with few supplies. “They didn’t help us, they didn’t even give us a rug. No dogs can live here,” Mohammad Amin, one of those who escaped, told Reuters.

Heavy fighting has taken place in the southern province of Kandahar and the Taliban kidnapped Spin Boldak, an area bordering Pakistan, earlier in the week, although the Afghan government said on Friday it had regained control of the border crossing.

Danish journalist Siddiqui Reuters was killed on Friday while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and nearby Taliban fighters.

Pakistani border officials said the crossing opened on Saturday and allowed hundreds of Pakistanis who had been stopped in Pakistan to return to the fighting.

The United Nations humanitarian agency said more than 2,000 people had been displaced in Kandahar this month, and the Kandahar provincial governor on Friday evening designated a place of cover in the city of Kandahar due to fighting.

The UN refugee agency estimates that 270,000 Afghans have been displaced in the country since January, and the number of people forced out of their homes has risen to more than 3.5 million.