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Russia Hosts 4-Nation Afghan Peace Talks, China to Set Up Intra-Afghan
Conference

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Russia, China and Pakistan have called for an early
   resumption of negotiations between the United States and the Taliban to
   reach an agreement about ending the war in Afghanistan.

   President Donald Trump in early September abruptly halted the yearlong
   dialogue with the Taliban after a series of deadly insurgent attacks in
   the Afghan capital, Kabul, resulted in the death of an American
   soldier, among others.

   On Friday, Moscow hosted U.S. chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad, along
   with Chinese and Pakistani representatives to review their joint
   efforts to reach sustainable settlement in the war-hit country by
   political and diplomatic means.

   "Russia, China and Pakistan expressed their support for the earliest
   resumption of negotiation process and reaching an agreement between the
   United States of America and the Taliban movement, which will pave the
   way for launching intra-Afghan talks," a post-meeting statement noted.

   It said that participants stated their exceptions that all sides will
   observe a cease-fire for the duration of intra-Afghan negotiations,
   calling on the Afghan government and the Taliban to release
   "significant numbers of prisoners at the start of intra-Afghan
   negotiations."

   Muhemmed Aejaz, head of the Pakistani delegation, tweeted after the
   meeting that participants "are hopeful about and agreed to expedite the
   earliest peaceful resolution of the issue through an Afghan-owned and
   Afghan-led peace process."

   Russia initiated the dialogue process this year and also has hosted
   intra-Afghan meetings in recent months to help end the war because it
   believes continued instability is encouraging terrorist groups like
   Islamic State to establish strongholds on Afghan soil to threaten
   Central Asian allies.

   The delegates from the four countries held their last meeting in
   Beijing in July when the U.S.-Taliban talks had reached an advanced
   stage, and the two adversaries in the 18-year-old Afghan war believed
   they had come close to concluding a peace deal.

   Taliban officials say the understanding would have set the stage for
   U.S. and other foreign troops to withdraw from the country in return
   for assurances the insurgent group would prevent Afghan soil from again
   becoming a terror sanctuary and engage in intra-Afghan peace
   negotiations to permanently end the hostilities.

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