Pakistan Hosts Talks to Revive Afghanistan Peace Talks

Local Editor

Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States sat down on Monday for talks to resurrect a stalled Afghan peace process and end nearly 15 years of bloodshed, even as fighting with Taliban militants intensifies.

Senior officials from the four countries are meeting in Islamabad to launch what they hope will lead to negotiations involving the Taliban, who are fighting to impose their strict brand of extremist rule and are not expected at Monday's talks.

For his part, the Pakistani PM's Adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, opened the meeting, saying the primary goal should be to convince the Taliban to come to the negotiating table and consider giving up violence.

He further focused on the importance that preconditions are not attached to the start of the negotiation process.

"The threat of use of military action against irreconcilables cannot precede the offer of talks to all the groups," Aziz added.

Relatively, renewed peace efforts come amid spiraling violence in Afghanistan, noting that last year, after the withdrawal of most foreign forces at the end of 2014, was one of the bloodiest on record.

In recent months the Taliban dominated territory in the southern province of Helmand, briefly captured the northern city of Kunduz and launched a series of suicide bombs in the capital, underlining how hard Afghan government forces are finding it fighting on their own.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team