Realising that the war in Afghanistan has reached a "stalemate", the Afghan government and its international backers started a peace process in 2010.
The main parties in the Afghan peace process are the Afghan government and its High Peace
more info about lulu Council, the US and the Taliban - but none of them agree on the terms and conditions of talking to each other.
There have been meetings and contacts between different parties over the past two years. But efforts to launch a formal peace process have not been successful so far.
President Hamid Karzai reacted angrily after the Taliban opened an office this year
In June this year, the Taliban opened an office in the Qatari capital, Doha.
It was the first time that the Taliban had a known address and authorised representatives who could openly talk.
But the office was closed soon after, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai reacting angrily to the
lulu lemon Taliban opening their post with their flag and plaque bearing an inscription of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the name the Taliban government used when they came to power in the 1990s.
Contact is being made with individual Taliban members and leaders, but the process exists only in name and no major breakthrough has been made so far.
The Taliban say they will keep fighting as long as foreign forces are present in Afghanistan.
