ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will attend a Russia initiated moot on Afghan peace process scheduled for tomorrow (March 18) in Moscow which would also be participated by key players; United States, China, Russia and Afghanistan, besides a delegation of Afghan Taliban.
According to Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, Pakistan would be represented by special envoy on Afghanistan Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq (retd) to present Pakistan’s principled position on the Afghan peace process.
Prior to his visit to Russia for attending the crucial Moscow talks on Afghanistan, Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq visited Tehran on March 13, where he also met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to exchange views on the Afghan peace process and the role the two neighbours can play towards a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict.
The Moscow talks are held in wake of the recent proposal by Biden administration of a UN-led peace process and a 90-day reduction in violence with a “transitional peace government” formed from both sides.
On Monday, the US State Department announced that special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will attend the Moscow moot, saying the meeting will “compliment all other international efforts to support the Afghanistan peace process and
will also reflect the international community’s concerns about progress to date”.
Dr M Naeem, a Taliban spokesman for its political office in Doha, has already confirmed participation of the Afghan Taliban in the Moscow meeting.
“A high-level delegation of 10 members of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, led by Mullah Baradar Akhund, Deputy Chief of the Political Affairs and Head of the Political Office of the IEA, will attend the meeting to be held in Moscow,” Naeem announced a tweet on Monday.
The announcement was preceded by a meeting of the US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad with the Taliban’s top negotiators including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Shaykh Molavi Abdul Hakeem Haqqani in Doha the same day.
According to Dr Naeem, the “multilateral” meeting was also attended by deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar Mohammad bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani in which views were exchanged on the implementation of the Doha agreement, the current situation of Afghanistan and the ongoing process of the intra-Afghan negotiations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021