Roadmap devised for Peace-talks between Afghan Govt. and Taliban
Group adopted a roadmap stipulating the stages and steps for peace-talks with Taliban.
Dunya News Report (Madiha Fareed)
ISLAMABAD - The third meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) was held on Saturday with the agenda of finding a viable solution to bring peace in Afghanistan. A joint press release issued at the end of the meeting stated that a roadmap has been agreed upon for Peace-talks between Afghan government and Taliban.
“Building on the progress made in the last two meetings, the Group explored ways for holding early direct peace talks between the authorized representatives of the Afghan Government and Taliban groups. In this regard, the Group also adopted a roadmap stipulating the stages and steps in the process”; said the joint press release.
Speaking to the inaugural session of the third meeting, Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz lauded the progress of the QCG, saying that it has shown seriousness and commitment to purpose. “It is really encouraging that the group has made steady progress in its first two meetings, demonstrating clarity of the purpose”, he added.
Sartaj Aziz reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan and appreciated the efforts of Afghan National Unity Government for their perseverance to bring peace through political settlement.
In the second meeting of the QCG held in Kabul on 18 January, the QCG called on the Taliban groups to enter into talks with the Afghan government without preconditions in order to find a basis for enduring political settlement in Afghanistan”.
Top diplomats of four nations (Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and United States) sat down together for the third time to explore options to bring the mired Afghan peace process back on track which came to an abrupt halt last year.
Group debated how to entice the Taliban’s Qatar political office to negotiate with Afghan government. A possible venue for the peace talk was also under discussion. In the next meeting, to be held in Kabul on February 23rd, it is expected that a list of Taliban willing to negotiate will be presented before QCG.
QCG discussed on Saturday a tentative date, possibly by the end of February 2016 for direct peace-talks between representatives of Afghan government and different Taliban Groups. The decision was taken to prevent the start of “spring offensive” (series of terrorists attacks carried out by Taliban at the end of winter season).
In July last year, Pakistan was able to get the two parties of Afghan civil-war to the negotiating table after a series of failed attempts. Pakistan brokered “Murree Talks” marked the first direct official talks between Afghan government and Taliban. Some Pakistan officials claimed that it took “months of intense effort” to convince the Taliban to join the talks.
In first round of talks, held from July 7 to 8 in Pakistan’s city Murree, officials of Afghan government and Taliban representatives came face to face to discuss the possibility of a political settlement. Other stakeholders present at the talks included representatives from China and the United States. Washington lauded Pakistan’s role for arranging these historic talks and expressed hope that the reconciliation process will bring stability to the region. Secretary General United Nations also appreciated the initiative. However the optimism was short lived as the second round of talks - scheduled for July 31- was suspended when the news of Taliban Commander Mullah Umar’s death broke just two days before the scheduled talks. The talks were never resumed as new Taliban leadership took over with Mullah Akhtar Mansour as their new commander.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s administration has been keen on finding a sustainable political settlement for the war-prone region and has been urging Pakistan to play a more vital role: however Pakistani officials have reiterated that “It is an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace initiative”, and Pakistan will only facilitate the process.
The quadrilateral coordination committee was established during “Heart of Asia” ministerial conference, held in Islamabad from December 8 to 10 last month, theme of which was to work a political settlement for Afghanistan to bring peace in the war-torn country.
