ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will host the first round of direct peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban factions and other insurgents likely to be held during the first week of next month.

The fourth meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) on Afghan reconciliation in Kabul on Tuesday agreed on the venue for the dialogue, but stayed short of announcing a date.

The QCG comprises Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States. The four countries have been working together to revive the peace dialogue that stalled last year after it was revealed that Taliban chief Mullah Omar had been dead for over two years.

Pakistan had hosted the inaugural round on July 7 and was set to host the second round when that initiative, dubbed the Murree Process, faltered.

“The QCG member states invite all Taliban and other groups to participate through their authorised representatives in the first round of direct peace talks with the Afghan government expected to take place by the first week of March 2016. Pakistan has graciously offered to host this round of talks in Islamabad,” a statement issued by the group after the Kabul meeting said.

The group had at its Feb 6 meeting in Islamabad expressed the hope that direct talks would commence by the end of February.

Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif’s visit to Doha on Monday for a meeting with the Qatari leadership on the reconciliation process has created hopes for participation of Qatar-based Taliban Political Office, which is associated with the main faction led by Mullah Mansour Akhtar.

The Mansour-led Taliban faction has not publicly signaled its intentions as yet even though it has on different occasions over the past weeks reiterated its demands for withdrawal of foreign forces and lifting of UN sanctions on its leaders.

The other three groups that the QCG countries want to bring to the negotiating table are: Haqqani network, whose leader Sirajuddin Haqqani is now Taliban’s deputy chief; Mullah Rasool faction and Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami. The invitation, nevertheless, remains for all insurgents interested in joining the process.

Talking to Dawn, Hezb-i-Islami leader Ghairat Baheer said his group was seriously considering the invitation.

Earlier, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, while speaking at the QCG meeting, urged Taliban factions, Hizb-i-Islami and other armed groups to join the peace process.

The immediate objective before the Afghan government, which is supported by Pakistan, the US and China in its endeavour to reach a political settlement of the conflict, is to avoid the launch of Taliban’s next spring offensive.

Last year was the bloodiest since the UN began documenting civilian casualties in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2009. Some 11,000 people were killed and wounded in insurgency-related violence last year.

Mr Rabbani called for “considerable reduction” in violence by the insurgent groups.

“The QCG endorsed and expressed strong support for the upcoming direct talks between the government of Afghanistan and authorised representatives of the Taliban and other groups,” the group’s statement said at the end of the meeting.

The four-nation group would reconvene in Islamabad soon after the first direct talks to assess the progress and devise future strategy.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2016