Pak to host 3rd meeting of Afghan peace talks next week

Pakistan will host the third meeting of four-way talks next week aimed at reviving the stalled peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, a top official said today.
Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said that the meeting of quadrilateral group involving Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US will be held on February 6 in Islamabad.
Khalilullah said that the meeting would discuss the road map for reconciliation in Afghanistan.
It would be third such meeting in recent weeks. The group of four was set up in December to facilitate the talks with the Taliban which were stalled in July after news of Taliban chief Mullah Omar's death.

The dates and venue of the third meeting was announced at the end of the Kabul meeting.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will soon travel to Qatar as part of that effort, Khalilullah said, without giving more details about the trip.

Today's announcement came days after the Afghan Taliban said that its "political office" in Qatar is the only entity authorised to carry out negotiations on its behalf.
Members of the Taliban's Qatar office are believed to be directly linked to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who officially became the group's chief after Omar's death last year.
Officials from Pakistan, China and US were present when representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government met in Murree near Islamabad during the first round.

It is believed that the process of peace in Afghanistan will be a test for all parties due to strong opposition within Afghanistan towards any peace with the Taliban.
The Taliban, who were ousted in 2001, remain split on whether to take part in talks.
The outfit has stepped up attacks since the US and NATO formally ended their combat mission in Afghanistan a year ago, and the fighters are battling local Afghan security forces on several fronts.
The expansion of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has fueled regional and international concerns that the upcoming spring fighting season may lead to even more bloodshed and instability in the war-shattered country.