-Pakistan, China, US, Russia ask both sides to reach immediate ceasefire
Foreign Desk Report
MOSCOW: The Afghan government and the Taliban on Friday decided to try and expedite the peace talks at a meeting in Moscow that came after an international conference there on the peace process, an Afghan official said.
The United States, Russia, China and Pakistan called on Afghanistan’s warring sides to reach an immediate ceasefire at the conference, held in Russia just six weeks before a deadline agreed last year to withdraw U.S. troops.
“We expressed our readiness to accelerate the (peace) process,” Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, told media. “They (the Taliban) did as well.” Abdullah said the sides had not discussed any specific issues when they met in Moscow on Friday.
Moscow hosted the international conference on Afghanistan on Thursday, at which Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan released a joint statement calling on the Afghan sides to reach a peace deal and curb violence, and on the Taliban not to launch any offensives in the spring and summer.
The conference aimed to reinvigorate negotiations which have been taking place between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha, largely stalled over government accusations that the insurgents have failed to halt violence.
The Moscow conference was the first time the United States had sent a senior representative to talks on Afghanistan under a format launched by Russia in 2017. Washington agreed last year with the Taliban to withdraw its troops by May 1.
