Pakistan to host talks for reviving Afghan peace process

In the declaration after the meeting, it was stated that eliminating extremism is necessary for creating peace in Afghanistan.

“All four countries underscored the importance of bringing an end to the conflict in Afghanistan that continues to inflict senseless violence on the Afghan people and also breeds insecurity throughout the region”, the delegation – which included Richard G. Olson, President Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan – said in a statement.

“The Pakistani government will present the list of Taliban who are willing to talk and those who are not interested in talks”, he added.

Delegates from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and United States attend a meeting hoping to lay the roadmap for peace talks with the Taliban, at the foreign ministry in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.

Mansour’s installation as the head of the Taliban coincided with the collapse of the peace talks during the summer, after it was revealed Taliban founder Mullah Omar had died in hospital 2-years earlier.

According to David Hale, the US ambassador to Pakistan, including Pakistan, the United States, and China in this process is important because these states “all have ways in which they can influence positively this outcome”.

Addressing the opening session, Pakistani Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Islamabad wants to promote the reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Asked about reports of a drone attack, US military spokesman Col. Michael Lawhorn said that American forces had carried out a “counterterrorism strike” Friday but did not specify a location nor estimate casualties.

Militants in both countries are allied, and getting rid of the Haqqanis could unleash a violent backlash inside Pakistan where the army has been fighting for several years to defeat a coalition of militant groups largely based in its border areas with Afghanistan, Gul said.

On Monday, a breakaway Taliban group said it was ready for talks.

“Since the Taliban are gaining ground with each passing day, there needs to be a package worked out by the four partners”.

“We have a very clear-cut stance about peace talks: all the foreign occupying forces would need to be withdrawn”, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, deputy for splinter group leader Mullah Mohammad Rasool Akhund, told Reuters on Monday.

He was confident that the meeting of the Quadrilateral group will have constructive and meaningful deliberations focusing on all relevant issues and charting the way forward keeping sight on their shared goal of achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan through a politically negotiated settlement. Kabul hoped the it could help to stop the Taliban from launching their annual “Spring Offensive” that marks the beginning of fighting season in Afghanistan.

In recent months the Taliban has won territory in the southern province of Helmand, briefly captured the northern city of Kunduz and launched a series of suicide bombs in the capital, underlining how hard Afghan government forces are finding it to fight on their own.