Rabbani said the QCG is to meet Monday as a result of extensive preparations and discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the United States and China.
Advertisement
In a joint statement released by the Afghan Foreign Ministry, they said the talks “made progress on a roadmap toward initiating peace talks with Taliban groups”.
The family has strongly supported President Ashraf Ghani’s efforts to bring peace to the country after nearly 40 years of war and 15 years of Taliban insurgency.
Previous year was one of the bloodiest on record in Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of most foreign troops at the end of 2014.
The meetings seek to revive a process that was derailed last July after the first and only face-to-face meeting between Afghan government and Taliban representatives in Islamabad. A second round was cancelled after the Afghan government announced that the Talban’s founder and leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead since early 2013, and the militant group had been secretly run by his deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
Pakistani authorities insisted they have abandoned past policies of siding with the Taliban or other insurgent groups to use them as their proxies. A previous round of talks took place in Islamabad a week ago. Afghanistan’s chief negotiator said last week Monday’s talks would focus on creating a plan to persuade the Taliban to give up violence. Taliban demands The Taliban also insisted that nothing less than the withdrawal of all foreign forces and implementation of Islamic Shariah will be acceptable to them.
Sequencing actions and measures appropriately to pave the way for direct talks with the Taliban.
Regarding Sunday’s suicide attack, Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told Anadolu Agency that the involvement of pro-Daesh rebels could not be ruled out.
“This road map”, he said, “identifies a clear direction for starting and progress in the peace talks”.
Advertisement
“The participants of the (Kabul meeting) once again emphasised the need for an end to the senseless violence against the Afghan people”, the four-country group said in a joint statement.
