Four countries call for reducing violence in Afghanistan – Newspaper

ISLAMABAD: The quadrilateral talks on the Afghan peace process on Friday called for the creation of an enabling environment to negotiate an agreement that could end the conflict that has just entered its nineteenth year.

The participating countries, Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States, which were represented through their senior diplomats at the meeting in Moscow, believe that the reduction of hostilities by the Afghan government and the Taliban and the resumption of Talks between the United States and the Taliban, which have been suspended since last month, could help in the beginning of the intra-Afghan process, long considered the best bet to reach a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

This was the result of discussions in the second round of the quadrilateral format that began in Beijing in July this year. The quartet was born from a trilateral process between China, Russia and the United States, which also held its separate consultations in Moscow.

One of the key objectives of the talks was to review the stalemate in the peace process since the dialogue between the United States and the Taliban was interrupted last month. The two sides were close to closing a historic agreement that would have led to the start of the intra-Afghan process.

Diplomats from the United States, Pakistan, China and Russia hold talks on Afghan peace in Moscow

The statement issued from Moscow said: "Russia, China and Pakistan expressed their support for the earlier resumption of the negotiation process and to reach an agreement between the United States of America and the Taliban movement, which will pave the way for initiating intra-Afghan talks. ". . "

The four countries at their Moscow meeting also "urged all parties to immediately reduce violence" to create "an environment conducive to negotiations."

Both Afghan and Taliban government forces have intensified their hostilities in recent months. Since July there has been a marked increase in Taliban attacks, which has caused more civilian casualties.

The latest UN report revealed that more civilians were killed in the last quarter than during any quarter in the last decade. A total of 1,174 civilians were killed between July and September of this year.

This number of victims comprises a very high proportion of women and children. Meanwhile, 85 civilian deaths were caused by Taliban attacks during the recent presidential polls.

Meanwhile, a secret meeting between the US special envoy for Afghan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, with Afghan Taliban leaders in Islamabad earlier this month, had awakened hope that the stalled dialogue will resume soon. Those hopes were fueled by the Taliban during their trip to Islamabad, when they backed calls to resume their talks with the United States.

In anticipation that the process between the United States and the Taliban will resume soon and lead to the beginning of the intra-Afghan dialogue, the four countries shared their ideas and expectations of the process.

They hoped that Afghan and Taliban forces could keep a ceasefire during the course of intra-Afghan talks to help reach a political agreement. Similarly, they hoped that both parties, as a confidence-building measure, will release "a significant number" of prisoners at the beginning of the intra-Afghan process.

Posted in Dawn, October 26, 2019