By Zia Khan/Staff Reporter

In a positive development, the Afghan Taliban may replace some of their hardline negotiators with moderates at their proposed Doha office ahead of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to Qatar this week. The move is seen as a breakthrough in the hitherto stalled reconciliation process.
Sources said the likely replacement of representatives, including their chief Tayeb Agha, a close aide to Taliban elusive leader Mullah Mohamed Omar, can be a signal of the militia’s willingness to hold direct talks with the Karzai administration.    
It wasn’t clear who would join in as new members at the ‘Doha office’ but a source said the number of the Taliban figures in the city might go beyond two dozen from the current level between nine to 12.  
Diplomats based here told ‘Gulf Times’ yesterday there were hopes that the year-long deadlock surrounding the formal opening of a political liaison office in Doha for the militia might be broken during Karzai’s visit over the weekend.
But, some of them cautiously added, the opening itself might take some more time before several issues are settled between the administration in Kabul and the group based in the southern Kandahar province.
“What I can tell you at the moment is that things are moving in the right direction from our perspective …we are heading towards achieving what we aspired for and hope to reach somewhere soon,” said Mohamed Qasim Himat, the acting Afghan ambassador.
Karzai will this weekend travel to Doha to meet top Qatari leaders, including HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, along with a number of top officials and members of the High Peace Council (HPC) he set up back in 2010 to spearhead talks with the Taliban.
Himat confirmed the delegation accompanying Hamid Karzai might include HPC chief Salauddin Rabbani, the son of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The Afghan reconciliation process was stalled for almost a year now because the Taliban refused to hold direct talks with the government of Hamid Karzai, labelling him as a powerless puppet of foreign forces.
The Taliban said they prefer talking to the United States (US) directly to see what kind of role they can have once Western forces leave the war-torn country by the end of next year as announced by President Barack Obama.
So frustrating was it for the Afghan president that he recently accused Americans and the Taliban of ‘colluding’ in an outburst in Kabul recently. He later retracted his comment, saying the media misinterpreted his quote.
But the developments that took place in-between were significant. Americans handed over to Afghan authorities the control of a main prison outside Kabul where some high profile Taliban figures are detained. The militia has been demanding the release of its men from the Afghan, Pakistani and American detention.
Himat said, besides the Taliban, the visiting president would also discuss some commercial issues with the leaders here including the opening of Qatar embassy in Kabul and investments in his country’s lucrative mining sector.