US, Pakistan, China hold talks in Muscat on Afghanistan

Senior Foreign Ministry representatives from the US, Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are meeting in the Omani capital on Monday to revive peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The Pakistan team, led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, is participating in the four-nation Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) talks, that will attempt to revive talks with the Taliban to bring a negotiated peace settlement in the war-torn country.

According to Tolo News, the quadrilateral meet will hold talks on implementing commitments, especially Pakistan's promises, regarding fighting terrorism.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Shekib Mustaghni said in addition to discussions on commitments, the delegates will also share ideas on counter-terrorism efforts.

The sixth quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan is being resumed after a break of one year.

From Afghanistan, in addition to the Deputy Foreign Minister, a representative from the High Peace Council (HPC) will also attend at the meeting.

"The meeting is aimed to review Pakistan's commitments on talks (peace) that had been made at previous meetings," said Mustaghni.

According to Tolo, the previous five quadrilateral meetings saw a road map outlined for peace, but after the meetings, Pakistan was accused of not fulfilling its promises and the follow up meeting was delayed for one year.

Afghan Senate members said they are not hopeful of any positive result emerging from the meeting.

"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.

This is the first meeting of the quadrilateral after Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor's death in a US drone strike in Balochistan in May 2016.

The talks in Oman also come after Pakistan said last week that India's "controversial role" in Afghanistan is not in the interest of regional stability and not acceptable to Pakistan.

--IANS

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