Taliban co-founder to attend peace talks in Qatar

One of the Afghan Taliban's co-founders is in Qatar for peace talks between the insurgents and the United States.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar spent eight years in Pakistani custody until his release last year.

His presence in Doha could help improve the chances of a deal being struck after several rounds of talks, correspondents say.

The talks are expected to focus on the details of a framework deal that the two sides reached in principle last month.

Under that framework, American troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in return for a Taliban guarantee that Afghan territory would never be used by terrorists.

The Taliban have refused to meet the Afghan government but President Ashraf Ghani has insisted that the peace talks will not go anywhere unless the insurgents formally sit with his administration.

Last month's US-Taliban talks in Qatar made progress in ending 17 years of conflicting Afghanistan, the US said.

US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said the January talks had been "more productive than they have been in the past" but added there were a number of issues still to work out.

The Taliban also said progress had been made in the negotiations. However, a spokesman added that talks about "unsolved matters" would continue.

Mullah Baradar was put in charge of the Taliban political office in Qatar in January but until now has remained in Pakistan and has not made any public appearances.

He served in a number of key roles within the Taliban until he was detained by Pakistani authorities in 2010.

Taliban sources said it was not clear whether he would attend Monday's talks but he would at least oversee them.

After last month's talks, Taliban sources were quoted saying the two sides had finalized clauses to be included in a draft agreement.

They reportedly envisaged foreign forces withdrawing following a deal in return for assurances that al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group would not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a base to attack the US.

The Taliban's power and reach have surged since foreign combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014.

Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said more than 45,000 members of the country's security forces had been killed since he became a leader in 2014.