A quadrilateral meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States will be held here on Monday (January 11) to push forward the peace process in Afghanistan.
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Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai will lead Kabul’s delegation to the one-day Islamabad meeting, Mostaghni added.
Afghan political watchers believe that the increase in Taliban activities ahead of the proposed peace talks signals the armed outfit’s decision to attend the negotiations from a strong position. The talks were agreed upon during a visit to Kabul last month by Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif.
The Taliban militant group, which has been operating in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, will not be present at Monday’s meeting.
Pakistan hosted talks between Afghan officials and Taliban representatives in July but the process was stalled when the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani took part in a regional conference last month in Islamabad which called for the resumption of the Afghan-Taliban peace negotiations.
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“The Taliban by organizing successive deadly suicide attacks want to demonstrate their military power ahead of the proposed peace dialogue to bargain for concessions”, political analyst Khan Mohammad Daneshjo told Xinhua on Tuesday.
