Afghan peace process: Pakistan starts talks with four guiding points

Top officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States are meeting in Islamabad today to finalise a roadmap for resurrecting a stalled peace process in Afghanistan.

Managing Director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum, Aziz Rafiee says China, as a direct neighbor to both Afghanistan and Pakistan, can help bridge any divides. “The groups that continue to fight against Afghans, we will be dealing with them through counterterrorism mechanisms”. The Taliban are not expected to attend the talks, but there are expectations that an agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the eradication of Taliban boltholes in Pakistan, will go a long way toward hampering Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Army chief General Raheel Sharif then travelled to Kabul as part of efforts to expedite the peace process.

The network is allied with al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban and cooperates with other terrorist organizations in the region and was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 7, 2012 by the US Department of State. He said the government under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is pursuing policy of good neighbourly relations for creating an atmosphere of trust with all regional countries.

Faisal said Pakistan has agreed to cut off financial support to Taliban fighters based in Pakistani cities, including Quetta and Peshawar.

Monday’s meeting comes shortly after reports suggested that Pakistan would present the Afghan government with a list of Taliban willing to reenter negotiations. But a section of the media has quoted Taliban leaders as saying that they would not hold talks with the Afghan government.

The talks come amid concerns about the motives of the Islamist group, who have stepped up their violent campaign in recent times, sparking fears the country could once again descend into all-out war.

A previous fledging peace process last year was stopped after the Taliban announced that its founder, Mullah Omar, had been dead for two years, throwing the militant group into disarray and factional infighting.

After six months of worsening fighting, with the province of Helmand slipping out of control and frequent suicide bombings in the capital, Afghanistan and its neighbors are trying to return to peace talks, albeit without the Taliban for now.

The Taliban say they captured a government compound in the strategic Sangin district over the weekend, claims denied by Afghan officials.

A subsequent power struggle within the Taliban has raised questions about who would represent the insurgents if the talks with Kabul are revived.

The Taliban want recognition of their Qatar office under the banner of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name they used when they ruled Afghanistan until they were ousted by the U.S.-led coalition in 2001.

“There is no such thing as the Taliban, there are groups of Taliban”, Ghani said last month.