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Representatives from four nations - Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United States and China on Monday met in Muscat, the capital of Oman, after 16 months to discuss the Afghan peace process. Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janua led Pakistan's delegation in the sixth round of talks held under the umbrella of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) and she, according to diplomatic sources, emphasized the need for a peaceful political solution of the Afghan conflict.

Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai and Secretary of High Peace Council, Akram Khpalwak led the Afghan delegation. High officials from the US and China also attended the talks.

"Afghan peace talks, bringing the Taliban to negotiation table, counterterrorism efforts and eradication of 'terrorist main bases' on other side of the border, in Pakistan, are the issues [of the meeting]," Sebghatullah Ahmadi, Deputy Spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry was quoted by the Afghan media as having said in his comments on the four-nation talks. "This time Pakistan has new commitments and now the country is going to implement its previous commitments as well," Ahmadi added.

Pakistan has repeatedly rejected the Afghan and US officials' allegations of terrorists' "safe havens." "There should be an end to the blame game and all the nations need to make coordinated efforts towards the peace and stability in Afghanistan and beyond," said a Pakistani diplomat.

He pointed out that a peaceful prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest. "We believe that a politically negotiated settlement will be the most viable option for bringing lasting peace to Afghanistan," he added. Towards this end, he said that Pakistan had made sincere efforts for facilitating talks between Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban in the past. "Our consistent and clear message to the Taliban has been that they must give up violence and join the peace process," he said, adding Pakistan's efforts led to Murree talks in July, 2015 and the setting up of QCG in December, 2015. However, both times the process was undermined by forced who were against reconciliation, he lamented.

The sixth round of the talks was held following the Trump administration's new South Asia and Afghan strategy held after the gap of 16 months. The process had hit a dead-end in May 2016 after the killing of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in a US drone attack in Balochistan.



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