Quadrilateral Meeting: Pakistan will continue efforts for peace, says Sartaj

Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will address the opening session, it said.

Afghan political analyst Sayed Abdullah Ahmadi says he believes the Taliban has been stepping-up its offensives in an attempt to give itself a better bargaining position. This is because Pakistan is widely understood to be housing the Taliban leadership on its soil and has influence over them, though it denies this. “Even at the best of times they (Taliban) didn’t listen to us”, Sartaj Aziz told The Associated Press. Pakistan’s intelligence agency has historical ties to the Taliban leadership, and many top Taliban figures found refuge across the border after being driven from power in Kabul in 2001.

Frustrated with the rampant Taliban-led insurgency using their safe havens outside the country, the Presidential Palace in Afghanistan released a statement earlier in September a year ago, slamming Pakistani officials for rejecting the Afghan insurgent groups have safe havens in Pakistan.

 Increasingly, US aircraft and ground forces have been pulled into battles to prevent Afghan security forces from being defeated by the Taliban.

He emphasised the importance of not attaching pre-conditions to start the negotiating process.

The process is a significant window of opportunity for all stakeholders to work jointly to encourage the Taliban to come to the negotiation table.

After Aziz’s televised remarks, the meeting proceeded behind closed doors into afternoon hours.

The news sparked infighting between senior Taliban leaders and the group’s new chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which in turn led to the creation of a new faction headed by Mohamed Rasool in November.

As the prospect of a peace dialogue grows, the Taliban can be expected to step up their fight in order to ensure they join any peace dialogue from a position of strength.

Taliban militants briefly seized the town of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan last September and fighting with Afghan government forces has intensified in recent weeks in Helmand, the traditional Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Army chief General Raheel Sharif then traveled to Kabul as part of efforts to expedite the peace process.

The Afghan officials were expecting to sit-in for the second round of peace talks with the Taliban group representatives in Pakistan at the end of the same month. The meeting, which will also include Pakistan, is to be held in Islamabad, said the official. But a section of the media has quoted Taliban leaders as saying that they would not hold talks with the Afghan government.

Renewed peace efforts come amid spiralling violence in Afghanistan, with past year, after the withdrawal of most foreign forces at the end of 2014, one of the bloodiest on record.

When the Taliban opened their office in Qatar in June 2013, they outlined their two-pronged strategy of fighting and negotiating simultaneously.

“Peace requires focus and strategic patience”, he said.