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Roundup: QCG meeting urges Taliban to join negotiations, Taliban says unaware of peace talks

Xinhua, February 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

As the latest four-nation talks on Afghan peace process called on Taliban to join a peace dialogue expected to begin early next month, the militant group said its political office was unaware of the issue, local media reported on Thursday.

The fourth round of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting attended by senior Afghan, Chinese, U.S. and Pakistani diplomats agreed on Tuesday to facilitate the Taliban-Kabul talks by the first week of March.

In the first reaction since the QCG meetings started in early January, the Taliban said that no one has contacted their political office in the Gulf state of Qatar over potential dialogue.

"The Afghan Taliban Qatar office has said it has not been contacted regarding an upcoming peace gathering in Islamabad as part of a four-nation push to revive the stalled peace process," local Daily Outlook Afghanistan reported.

Citing an unnamed Taliban official in Doha, the report said no one has contacted the Taliban's political office over the expected peace talks in early March.

The first round of face-to-face talks between Taliban and the Afghan government was held in Pakistan in July last year, but the second round was cancelled after the death of then Taliban leader Mullah Omar was confirmed.

Pakistan has agreed to host the talks, according to a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the latest QCG meeting in Kabul.

The QCG has also welcomed the decision by Afghan and Pakistani governments to continue a bilateral joint working group to liaise with Ulema or religious scholars of both countries to support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process through Fatwa, or religious decrees, against the ongoing violence in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and other Afghan leaders have repeatedly offered peace talks with the Taliban over the past years. However, the insurgent group has categorically rejected the offer, saying there will be no talks until all foreign troops leave the country, a condition unacceptable to Kabul.

The NATO and U.S. forces completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence in the country.

They switched from combat to support role, which focuses on training, advising and assisting the Afghan security forces since Jan. 1, 2015.

Nearly 13,000 foreign forces are now stationed in the country and being involved in the mission.

As the diplomats from the four countries have been trying to help resume the peace negations, the Taliban has intensified attacks across the country since the start of this year.

On Monday, seven civilians and six police officers were killed and 11 others wounded after a Taliban suicide bomber struck a police patrol near a local health facility in eastern Parwan province.

The Afghan security forces have also been involved in scores of offensives to stop Taliban return to remote districts as there were no pause in the attacks this winter in the Central Asian country. Endit