Pakistan calls for politically negotiated settlement of Afghan conflicts

Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz Saturday called for a politically negotiated settlement of Afghan conflicts at a four-nation meeting on Afghan reconciliation process held here.

Aziz said a politically negotiated settlement through an intra-Afghan reconciliation process will contribute to accomplishing shared goal of lasting peace in the country.

Senior Afghan, Pakistani, Chinese and U.S. officials opened their third round of key discussions that will focus on finalizing a reconciliation roadmap in Afghanistan.

The roadmap, introduced in the first quadrilateral meeting in Islamabad in early January, aims to determine "parameters of shared responsibilities" of all those involved in the process, an official, who is part of the discussions has said.

The second meeting in Kabul on January 18 had completed deliberations on almost half of the plan and the focus of the Islamabad meeting would be to complete the discussions and come up with a good and realistic document, he said.

"It is really encouraging that the Group has made steady progress in its first two meetings, demonstrating clarity as well as seriousness of purpose. In the Kabul meeting on 18 January, the Quadrilateral Coordination Group's ( QCG ) call on the Taliban groups to enter into early talks with the Afghan Government without preconditions is a reiteration of a strong message by the international community for peace talks in order to find a basis for enduring political settlement in Afghanistan," Aziz said.

Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai is leading a seven-member delegation in the meeting. Diplomatic sources said a High Peace Council member, Zeerak Yousafi, is also part of the delegation.

Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan Deng Xijun, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olsan and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry are leading their delegations.

The quadrilateral process was launched in December during a meeting on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference held in Islamabad. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were present in that meeting, which was also attended by senior officials from China and the United States.

Sartaj Aziz said the QCG working towards advancing political reconciliation in Afghanistan is of crucial importance, adding that Pakistan is confident that the process would lead to a significant reduction of violence. He renewed his call for confidence building measures (CBM) to convince the Taliban to join the peace process.

"As regards the peace process, we believe our collective efforts at this stage, including through supportive CBMs have to be aimed at persuading maximum number of Taliban groups to join the peace talks. This will contribute to imparting a momentum to the process offering incentive of political mainstreaming to the insurgent groups, and gradually shrink the space for the irreconcilables," he said in a written statement at the inaugural session of the day-long conference.

The Taliban have refused so far to hold talks with the Afghan government in the presence of the foreign forces. The Taliban political negotiators listed some steps ahead of the talks at an unofficial meeting in Qatar last month that include opening of their political office in Doha, removal of travel curbs on their leaders and release of prisoners.

The Taliban office in Qatar was closed days after its opening in 2013 after then Afghan President Hamid Karzai raised objections at the use of the white flag and the plaque of "Islamic Emirate." The Taliban had used both the signs during their rule (1996-2001).

The Taliban also want to talk first to the Americans to discuss withdrawal of the foreign forces.

The Taliban have not officially commented on the quadrilateral process. Endit