Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, USA set to resume four-way peace talks in Oman


nsnbc : Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to resume four-way talks Monday in Oman in a renewed attempt to seek a politically negotiated settlement to the Afghan war.

Previous Quadrilateral Cooperation Group, or QCG meeting. (archives)

Previous Quadrilateral Cooperation Group, or QCG meeting. (archives)

The meeting set to start on Monday will be the first meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Cooperation Group (QCG) after a 16-month-long hiatus. Senior diplomatic officials from the four nations will lead their respective delegations. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on the eve of Monday’s meeting:

“The objective is to bring the warring factions within Afghanistan to the negotiating table. It is upon all members of QCG to meet and decide on how to move forward in this context.”

The QCG was launched in January 2016. The aim was for members to use their respective influence on the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency to nudge them to the negotiating table. It was among others established against the backdrop of China’s New Silk Road or Road and Belt initiative – projects that added to the complex regional dynamics.

However, the peace process broke down after a fifth session in May 2016, when a U.S. drone attack killed the Taliban Chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, while he was traveling through the Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Pakistani officials blamed Washington for scuttling the four-way process by eliminating Mansoor. For their part, Afghan and U.S. officials complained Islamabad was not doing enough to prevent the Taliban from using sanctuaries on Pakistani soil to orchestrate insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, charges Pakistan denied.

The presence of proxies, including Iranian has long been known and published, among others by Pakistani Major (r( Agha H. Amin Map plottings, Major (r) Agha Humayum Amin

The presence of proxies, including Iranian has long been known and published, among others by Pakistani Major (r( Agha H. Amin Map plottings, Major (r) Agha Humayum Amin

The Taliban’s reluctance to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government has been seen as one of the major obstacles for the resumption of peace talks; Increased tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been another major obstacle; Rivalries between major powers including the USA, China and Russia, as well as regional powers including India, Pakistan, and Iran have been other factors that have hampered previous sessions from making progress as well as the resumption of the QCG talks.

There has been a perceived thaw in Afghan – Pakistani relations following recent high-level meetings between Afghan and Pakistani officials but tensions remain high. Both sides accuse each other of supporting particular Taliban factions and of providing safe havens for insurgents.

Russia has repeatedly signaled that it would like to see peace talks with the Taliban. Ex-President Hamid Karzai – in recent years Russia-leaning – has called for a Loya Jirga or Grand Assembly of elders and stressed that he believes the Taliban should send delegates. Karzai warned that Afghanistan should not again suffer from regional rivalries.

Iran has increasingly been observed backing the insurgents in some northwestern regions with weapons and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard units. The Afghan Taliban currently insists that it won’t negotiate with the government in Kabul as long as there are U.S. and NATO troops in the country. Earlier this month the Taliban stated that is, after 17 years war, was far from being militarily exhausted.

Taliban forces currently control or contest more than 40 percent of Afghan territory and continue to make battlefield gains despite intensifies ground operations by U.S/NATO-backed ground forces and airstrikes by U.S. and NATO forces.

CH/L – nsnbc 16.10.2017



Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/10/16/afghanistan-pakistan-china-usa-set-to-resume-four-way-peace-talks-in-oman/

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