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Quartet meeting, great opportunity for a lasting peace in Afghanistan
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Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF) says that the quadrilateral meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China is a great opportunity for a lasting peace in Afghanistan and its next meeting will be held in capital Kabul on Monday, January 18th.
MoF noted that the direct talks between the representatives of Afghan government and the Taliban group will be the main issue of this meeting.
“Considering the commitments of the first quadrilateral meeting and other summits, there are many hopes that we gain achievements,” said Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni, spokesman of MoF.
In the meantime, chairman of the Senate House welcomes holding the second quadrilateral meeting in Kabul but emphasizing that the demands of Afghan people should seriously be considered.
“We welcome the quadrilateral meeting in Kabul but people’s demands and the past 14 years achievements should be seriously considered and efforts for brining peace must be sustainable.
The Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI) has also announced of taking serious measures for providing the security of the quadrilateral meeting.
“Efforts are underway that people do not face problems. We took serious measures for providing the security of the meeting,” said Sidiq Sidiqi, spokesman of the interior ministry.
Members of Monday’s meeting will be the same as the previous meeting in Islamabad; Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aziz Ahmad Chaudhry, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard G. Olson and China’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Ambassador Deng Xijun.
The first meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Committee (QCC) was held in Islamabad aimed at reviving the Afghan peace process.
The second quadrilateral meeting in Kabul come as the Taliban’s insurgency intensifies, testing the capacity of Afghanistan’s overstretched military and placing pressure on Pakistan to rein in its one-time proxies.
The spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid announced on Wednesday that the security and defense forces of the Islamic Emirate will temporarily halt the “Rad al-Zulm” defensive operation on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr and also at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar.
Zabiullah Mujahid said in a post on X: “The Islamic Emirate, while appreciating the goodwill of friendly and mediating countries, emphasizes that maintaining Afghanistan’s national security, territorial integrity, and the safety of Afghan lives is its national and religious duty, and it will bravely respond to any aggression in case of a threat.”
Meanwhile, Ataullah Tarar, Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, also announced that Pakistan has temporarily suspended its attacks on Afghanistan for Eid al-Fitr at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.
A UN official told Reuters on Wednesday that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) estimated the number of victims of the bombing of Kabul’s Omid hospital by Pakistan at 143 dead.
However, health officials in Afghanistan had earlier reported that the attack killed more than 400 people and injured 265.
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan of trying to create “anarchy and weakness” in Afghanistan, following a deadly airstrike on Kabul.
In an interview with UK’s Sky News, Karzai said Islamabad’s policies were aimed at keeping Afghanistan unstable and “downtrodden,” warning that such an approach would harm both countries.
He condemned the recent strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, which Afghan officials say killed around 400 people, describing it as an “extremely unfortunate event” in the history of relations between the two neighbours.
Karzai said he personally heard the explosion, describing a “horrific sound” that shook his home and filled the surrounding area with smoke and dust.
The former leader, who governed Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, said tensions between the two countries are longstanding, claiming Pakistan has struggled to maintain stable relations with successive Afghan governments.
He urged Pakistani leaders to change course and pursue a more constructive relationship, saying past strategies of interference and destabilisation had failed and would not succeed in the future.
Fighting between the two countries has intensified since late February, when Pakistan launched airstrikes it says targeted militant infrastructure. The United Nations estimates the violence has displaced more than 100,000 people.
Pakistan has denied targeting civilians, insisting its operations were aimed at militant sites and accusing Kabul of spreading “misleading” claims to deflect from alleged cross-Durand Line threats.
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