Pak wants max number of Taliban groups to join Afghan talks

Pakistan on Saturday called for collective efforts to persuade maximum number of Taliban groups to join Afghan peace dialogue, as the US, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan launched third round of talks here aimed at adopting a roadmap for reconciliation in the war-torn country.

"We believe our collective efforts at this stage, including through supportive CBMs have to be aimed at persuading maximum number of Taliban groups to join the peace talks," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said at the four-nation meeting.

"This will contribute to imparting a momentum to the process offering incentive of political mainstreaming to the insurgent groups, and gradually shrink the space for the irreconcilables," he said.

The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) was set up in December last year to facilitate the reconciliation process in the war-torn country.

Aziz said the meeting will have useful deliberations aimed at further advancing the work of the Group in a meaningful manner. He also said that the group was working to adopt a roadmap for talks.

"I am hopeful that continuing with this spirit and resolve, the Group will now focus on the early adoption of a roadmap for the reconciliation process and identify the way forward for holding direct peace talks between the representatives of the Government of Afghanistan and Taliban groups as early as possible," he said. He said "a clear, well-defined and actionable roadmap for the peace process between the Afghan Government and Taliban groups is important" and should identify and stipulate various stages of the process while measuring the progress being made at each stage.