US, China, Russia and Pakistan hold Afghan peace talks

ISLAMABAD: Representatives of Russia, China, the US and Pakistan have agreed that negotiation is the only road to peace in Afghanistan, including an early resumption of direct US talks with the Taliban.

The day-long talks in Moscow on Friday came ahead of an intraAfghan dialogue to be hosted by China. The Beijing talks, which initially were to be held next week, have been postponed, according to officials familiar with the talks.

Speaking on condition they not be identified because of they were not authorised to talk about the subject, they said the postponement would be brief but no new date was given.

When the China talks take place, they will be the first face-toface discussions between Afghan warring sides since July. Even

President Ashraf Ghani, who has objected to any talks not led by his government, said on Friday that he would send representatives.

There has been no official announcement of a postponement, but previous intra-afghan talks have been delayed while both sides squabbled over participants.

Earlier on Friday, a government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, had said Ghani was opposed to participation in the talks.

It wasn’t clear what changed Ghani’s mind or whether he had requested a postponement, but a number of prominent Afghans from Kabul are expected to attend the China meeting, including former President Hamid Karzai, who has been a strong proponent of direct talks with the Taliban. He participated in earlier sessions of talks with the Taliban held in Moscow.