Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Sunday expressed optimism over the outcome of the third Quadrilateral Group Meeting between senior officials from Afghanistan-Pakistan-US-China in Islamabad, and hoped for a date to be set within three weeks for direct peace negotiations with the insurgent Taliban.| Because that was the key ingredient missing here, a roadmap... |
"An agreement was also made that the four member countries of the QCG will continue their efforts for setting out a date for direct negotiations between the authorized representatives of the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban group. The date can be finalized by the end of February 2016," Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
"As far as the issue of the groups which do not endorse peace talks is concerned, Afghanistan and Pakistan have committed and agreed to deal with them with all available resources and continue their strong struggle against them," he said.
It seems that Washington and Beijing have been pushing Islamabad to cooperate with Afghanistan at brokering groundbreaking peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban aimed at curbing violence and restoring peace and stability in the war hit nation.
This comes at a time that former president Hamid Karzai in an interview with Fars News Agency stressed the need for a role by Russia, Iran and India in the peace process of Afghanistan.
"My dear brother Taliban stop your wrongdoing and avoid harming your country and the people, return to your country and support peace in your motherland," Karzai said.
As hopes for the initiation of purposeful peace talks with the Taliban gather momentum, the insurgents continue their violent acts across the nation aimed at proving its strong existence and to score points in the talks.
"Negotiations will not yield an outcome unless there is a ceasefire, direct negotiations and replacing the military strategy with a political strategy. The analysis doesn't accept whether this team belongs to Akhter Mansour or Mullah Rasoul," a member of the high peace council Mohammad Amin Weqad said.
Afghanistan meanwhile hopes that the efforts lead to an outcome before the start of the so-called war season. The fourth round of the QCG is scheduled in the Afghan capital Kabul on 19 February.