Pakistan will host the first meeting of Quadrilateral Co-ordination Committee of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China early next week to explore the ways for resumption of peace talks between Afghan government and the Taliban. Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah told Business Recorder in a text message that the meeting of Quadrilateral Co-ordination Committee will be held in Islamabad next week.
The representatives from the four countries, according to the sources, would explore the ways and also discuss finalisation of modalities for the resumption of the dialogue process between Kabul and the Taliban. The committee was constituted on the sidelines of fifth ministerial meeting of Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process on December 09, 2015, which would coordinate efforts for bringing Afghan government and the Taliban to the table of negotiation to restore the peace in the war-torn country.
The ministerial meeting which was jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had urged the Taliban and other armed groups in Afghanistan to shun the violence and enter into the peace talks. About the progress in reaching out to the Taliban, the sources said that the representatives of the four countries would share each other separate contacts and the progress so far made when they would meet in Islamabad early next week.
Earlier, there were conflicting dates announced separately by Pakistan and Afghanistan. On December 31, 2015, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, while speaking at a press conference in Kabul, said the meeting would be held in Islamabad on January 11. However, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a policy statement in the Senate on the recent visit of Army Chief General Raheel Sharif to Kabul, said Islamabad would host the four-nation talks on January 16.
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