Islamabad – A four-nation group met in Kabul on Tuesday to discuss how to resume broken peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents.
Representatives from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the U.S. planned to discuss how to stabilise the war-shattered country.
The meeting would review progress from previous gatherings, two in Pakistan and one in Afghanistan, and might announce a date for a direct meeting with the Taliban, officials in Islamabad said.
“This may happen today,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria told newsmen.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani opened the meeting and vowed to reach out to all insurgent groups with an offer to talk.
“We have a high value for peace talks and are determined to start the process,” Rabbani said in his opening remarks.
Experts said the added presence of China and the U.S. was likely to make the process more effective.
In the past there have been doubts about Pakistan’s sincerity in bringing the Taliban to negotiations, since Islamabad wields some influence over the militia.
In the same development, Pakistan’s military chief Gen. Raheel Sharif visited the Gulf state of Qatar on Monday to establish contact between the Kabul administration and the Taliban, the army said.
It would be recalled that representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban met in 2015 near Islamabad for the first time, but the talks collapsed before the second round. (dpa/NAN)