ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, United States, Russia, and China have jointly called on Kabul and its negotiators to “engage openly” with their Taliban counterparts and ensure that Afghanistan’s soil is not used to threaten the security of any other country.
The delegations of the “Troika” member countries met with representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha to discuss ways to support intra-Afghan negotiations and help the parties reach a negotiated settlement and a permanent cease-fire.
The meeting comes less than two months after the Troika countries who met in Moscow called on warring Afghan sides to reach an immediate cease-fire to end the decades-long war.
The talks were meant to breathe life into negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban that opened in Qatar in September but have stalled over government accusations that the insurgents have done too little to halt the violence.
Friday’s extended Troika meeting has been seen as an attempt to convince the Taliban to be at the Istanbul Conference that is expected to be held after Eidul Fitr.
The major summit was scheduled to be held earlier this month but was postponed after the militant refused to participate unless all foreign forces left Afghanistan in accordance with the group’s deal with Washington that in February last year set May 1 as the deadline for US troops to leave Afghanistan.
“We urge the Government of the Islamic Republic and the High Council for National Reconciliation to engage openly with their Taliban counterparts regarding a negotiated settlement. We do not support the establishment in Afghanistan of any government imposed by force.” a joint statement issued after the Doha meeting said.
The governments also tried to create space for Taliban leaders to join the Afghan government by asking the United Nations to reconsider their designation as terrorists.
“We support a review of the status of designations of Taliban individuals and entities on the UN 1988 sanctions,” the statement said. Practical measures to reduce violence and sustained efforts to advance intra-Afghan negotiations by the Taliban “will positively affect this review process”, it added.
The statement also called on the militant group not to “pursue a spring offensive” as a rise in violence has been feared with US President Joe Biden’s recent decision that the US withdrawal would overshoot the May 1 deadline agreed by the previous US administration.
As the deadline passed on Saturday, around 2,000 US troops still remain in Afghanistan, although Gen Scott Miller, their commander, earlier this week said an orderly withdrawal and the handing over of military bases and equipment to Afghan forces had begun.
“We reiterate our call on all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan to reduce the level of violence in the country and on the Taliban not to pursue a Spring offensive,” the statement said.
“We condemn in the strongest terms any attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan and call on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances, including those related to the protection of civilians.”
The US said it also expected the Taliban to fulfill their commitment to prevent “terrorist groups and individuals from using Afghan soil to threaten the security of any other country”.
Pakistan is credited with arranging the US-Taliban talks that culminated in the signing of the agreement in February last year.
The deal encouraged the Taliban to open peace talks last September in Doha with Afghan government negotiators, though the process has long been deadlocked and has largely failed to reduce deadly violence.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the American chief peace negotiator, told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that the US administration had urged Islamabad to exercise their “considerable leverage” over the Taliban to reduce violence and support a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
“Pakistan has a special responsibility given its influence over the Taliban, so we appreciate what Pakistan has done so far,” Khalilzad told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
