Afghanistan: No Plans to Revive Talks with Taliban

Local Editor

Kabul has no plans to revive a process aimed at bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table after a four-nation effort earlier this year produced no results, the spokesman of the Afghan president said Thursday.

Haroon Chakhansuri, President Ashraf Ghani's spokesman, said the four-nation group - comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States - has no plans to meet again anytime soon.

Relatively, the group met five times since January, in Kabul and Pakistan. The meetings did not include the Taliban, who refused to join the talks.

"There is no set time" for another meeting of the group," Chakhansuri told The Associated Press.

In this regard, Chakhansuri's remarks reflected the Kabul administration's disappointment over what it described as half-hearted efforts by neighboring Pakistan to jumpstart the peace process.

Ghani further accused Islamabad of harboring Taliban leaders - an accusation that Islamabad denies.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan continues to suffer from "terrorist groups that operate from and have a support base in Pakistan," according to Chakhansuri.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team