KABUL, 19 August 2021, (TON): A Taliban delegation led by a senior leader of the Haqqani Network group, Anas Haqqani, has met former Afghan president Hamid Karzai for talks, a Taliban official said, amid efforts by the group to set up a government.

Karzai was accompanied by the ousted government's main peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah and leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the meeting, said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified. He gave no more details.

The Haqqani Network is an important faction of the Taliban, who captured the capital, Kabul.

Karzai on Sunday announced that a 'coordination council' was formed in order to prevent chaos, reduce sufferings of the people and oversee a peaceful transition of power after the Taliban seized control of the war-torn country.

The Afghan Taliban said “they wanted peaceful relations with other countries and would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law, as they held their first official news briefing since their shock seizure of Kabul.”

He added "we don't want any internal or external enemies," the movement's main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said. Women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society but within the framework of Islam."

"If the question is based on ideology, and beliefs, there is no difference but if we calculate it based on experience, maturity, and insight, no doubt there are many differences."

"All those in the opposite side are pardoned from A to Z," he said. "We will not seek revenge."