Four-nation meeting agrees to set date for Afghan peace talks this month

Senior Afghan, Chinese, Pakistan and the U.S. diplomats agreed on Saturday to continue efforts for setting a date for direct peace talks between the Afghan gov't and Taliban expected to take place by the end of February, a joint statement said.

The Quadrilateral Coordination Group's meeting also decided that next meeting would be held in Kabul on Feb. 23, according to a joint statement.

"The QCG countries agreed to continue joint efforts for setting a date for direct peace talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban groups expected to take place by the end of February 2016. The QCG members called on all Taliban groups to join the peace talks,"the statement said.

The QCG agreed to continue regular meetings to ensure a smooth way forward in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.

Building on the progress made in the last two meetings, the group explored ways for holding early direct peace talks between the authorized representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban groups. In this regard, the group also adopted a roadmap stipulating the stages and steps in the process, the joint statement said.

The group stressed that the outcome of the reconciliation process should be a political settlement that results in the cessation of violence and durable peace in Afghanistan.

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

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

Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Deng Xijun, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Olsan and Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry headed their delegations.

Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser, Sartaj Aziz, told the opening session of the four-nation meeting that a politically negotiated settlement through an all inclusive intra-Afghan reconciliation process will contribute towards accomplishing a shared goal of lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Sartaj Aziz said that QCG's efforts towards advancing political reconciliation in Afghanistan is of crucial importance, adding Pakistan is confident that the process would lead to a significant reduction of violence. He renewed his call for Confidence Building Measures 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. Enditem