Danish Habibi was just a child in 2000 when the Taliban overran his village in Afghanistan's serene Bamiyan Valley. His memories of those days are reoccurring nightmares.

The Taliban offensive, encircling and almost seizing Kunduz late last month, came just weeks before the Kabul government sat down with their sworn enemies in Doha on Saturday to start historic talks aimed at ending 19 years of war that has killed and wounded more than 100,000 civilians.

The delayed negotiations are the second, critical part to a peace deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban in February in Doha.