In a move that marks the resumption of Japan's mediation efforts in the civil war in Afghanistan, leaders of the country's two rival factions have been in Tokyo for secret talks with Japanese officials, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
The sources said the Afghan leaders in Tokyo this week are Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Zahid, deputy foreign minister of the Taliban regime, and Sayed Hussain Anwari, a senior commander of the Afghan opposition alliance, led by Gen. Ahmad Shah Masood.
Zahid and Anwari met separately with Japanese officials, including Wataru Nishigahiro, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry's Middle Eastern and African affairs bureau, on Monday and Tuesday, the sources said.