So, I did a little more analysis on the lists of agenda items reportedly put forth by the government of #Afghanistan and the #Taliban (listed in this @TOLOnews article from yesterday). Some observations in this THREAD. 1/n https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-168520

In the table below, I tried to combine some of the like themes on each side & then compare them to each other--to identify areas of overlap & gaps. Areas of strong overlap include drugs, corruption, care for war disabled/wounded, & ceasefire. 2/n

Areas of moderate/limited overlap (which includes areas where one side was very broad but the other more specific) include type of future govt, future foreign policy, future of the #ANDSF, territorial integrity, education, and human rights. 3/n

Areas highlighted by only one side:
- #Taliban have a bunch of items pertaining to "values" that are not mirrored by the govt, as well as topics on prisoners & information/expression
- #Afghanistan's govt has lots on crime & econ not on the TB list; also terrorism & refugees. 4/n

Of course, my table doesn't list the priority order in which the two sides cited these items, so while they both have a ceasefire listed, #Taliban have that listed last while the govt has it at the top of its list. 5/n

What does this mean? As I suggested last night, reconciling these agendas will not be easy, but there are some areas that might be ripe for easing into the negotiations, such as treatment of war wounded/disabled, territorial integrity, education... 6/n

...& some of the areas only highlighted by one side, such as economics. I'm not a diplomat, so I welcome others' thoughts on sequencing (calling @LaurelMillerICG...), but hopefully this cross-walk of the two sides' lists will help in that regard. 7/7