Muscat, Oct 16 (IANS) The sixth round of Quadrilateral Coordination Group’s (QCG) meeting between the US, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan is being held here to revive peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The meeting, which is expected to focus on implementing commitments, especially Pakistan’s promises, regarding fighting terrorism in its tribal regions, is taking place without the participation of the Taliban.
The Pakistan team led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua will attempt to revive talks with the Taliban to bring a negotiated peace settlement in the war-torn country, the Pakistan Foreign Office statement said.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Shekib Mustaghni said in addition to discussions on commitments, the delegates will also share ideas on counter-terrorism efforts.
The peace talks on Afghanistan were halted last year in May after an American drone killed then Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in southern part of Balochistan bordering Iran.
From Afghanistan, in addition to the Deputy Foreign Minister, a representative from the High Peace Council (HPC) also attended the meeting.
A Pakistani media outlet reported on Monday that Islamabad has approached the Taliban and asked them to prepare a team for peace negotiations.
The Daily Times quoted a Taliban leader as saying that Pakistani officials conveyed the message to the group leaders in a recent interaction. However, the Taliban leaders were yet responded to the call.
Taliban had earlier refused to accept Islamabad’s call to join the political dialogue when a similar message was conveyed to them in a face-to-face meeting between several senior Taliban leaders and Pakistani officials in March.
“The meeting (QCG) is aimed to review Pakistan’s commitments on (peace) talks that had been made at previous meetings,” said Mustaghni.
According to TOLONews, the previous five quadrilateral meetings saw a roadmap outlined for peace, but after the meetings, Pakistan was accused of not fulfilling its promises and the follow up meeting was delayed.
Afghan Senate members said they were not hopeful of any positive result emerging from the meeting.
“(The Afghan) government should make it clear when we will see the results of such meetings,” Senator Abdul Rahman Achakzai said.
The first quadrilateral meet was held between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and US on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Summit in 2015, and following that four other meetings were held in Kabul and Islamabad.
The talks in Oman also come after Pakistan expressed its disappointment over US President Donald Trump’s roadmap in dealing with the “agents of chaos” in the war-torn Afghanistan.
