Quadrilateral Coordination group meets in Muscat today
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MUSCAT: Following 16 months suspension, the sixth quadrilateral meeting on peace process in Afghanistan is being held in Muscat on Monday (today).
The sixth quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan security is being resumed after a break of sixteen months.
The meeting will be attended by representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States to discuss counter terrorism efforts in the war-torn country and seek a politically negotiated settlement to the Afghan war.
A delegation led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua will represent Pakistan at the dialogue.
Earlier, addressing weekly press briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the objective of the talks is to bring the Afghan warring factions to negotiating table.
The QCG was launched in January 2016. The aim was for members to use their respective influence on the Afghan government and the Taliban insurgency to nudge them to the negotiating table.
But the peace process broke down after a fifth session in May of that year, when a US drone attack killed the Taliban Chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, while he was traveling through the Pakistani province of Baluchistan.
The insurgents’ reluctance to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government and Kabul’s strained relations with Islamabad also hampered previous QCG sessions from making any significant headway.
