Oman hosts four-nation Afghan talks amid boycott by militant group

Representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US met in Oman yesterday to discuss reviving peace talks with the Taliban and Pakistan’s efforts on fighting terrorism.

The sixth meeting of the quadrilateral co-ordination group comes 16 months since the previous meeting, in Islamabad. The meeting took place after the US announced a new strategy on Afghanistan that calls for more pressure on the Taliban and on Pakistan to tackle militant sanctuaries.

The representatives from the four countries were met by Oman’s foreign ministry officials, an Omani official attending the meeting said.

“Pakistan plays a key role. The country has enough influence in the Taliban. China’s representatives are here also and they will provide specific solutions to the peace roadmap while the US will be looking for commitments,” the official said.

The meeting is an effort to revive peace talks with Afghan militants, who boycotted the meeting in Muscat yesterday.

The Taliban, ousted in a USled military intervention in 2001, has been gaining territory in recent years through an insurgency aimed at toppling Afghanistan’s western-backed government and re-establishing a fundamentalist regime.

“It is another peace talk. Nothing is guaranteed. It all depends on the commitments of all parties to resolve the problems. But we remain optimistic,” the official said.

Talks and efforts to kick start negotiations have failed after the 2015 announcement of the death of the Taliban’s founder and long-time leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, in 2013.

The United States wants Pakistan, which it accuses of harbouring Afghan Taliban commanders, to exert more influence on the group to bring them to the negotiating table.

But Pakistani officials deny sheltering Taliban militants and say their influence on the group has waned.

The talks come amid reports that the US is pushing Afghanistan to request for the closure of the Taliban’s office in Qatar.

The office opened in 2013 and was meant to be an avenue for the US to pursue peace talks with the Taliban, but has yielded little success.

Pakistan officials deny sheltering Taliban militants and say their influence on the group has waned

EPA An Afghan soldier takes aim during an offensive against Taliban militants as the military recaptured some of the districts in Nade-Ali area from the extremists in Helmand this week