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KABUL: Giving an optimistic hope to the Afghan peace process, the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad kicked off his fresh peace journey after the two feuding Afghan leaders reached a political agreement over formation of an inclusive government.
The US Department of State said in a statement that ambassador Khalilzad flew to Qatar on May 17th to meet the Taliban representatives to discuss the implementation of the US-Taliban peace, intra-Afghan-talks and a “significant” reduction of violence. According to the statement, the US envoy would visit Kabul after meeting the Taliban Qatar based political office.
“The United States remains committed to supporting the desire of the Afghan people and the international community for a political settlement that ends the 40-year conflict and ensures Afghanistan never again serves as a platform for international terrorism,” the statement reads.
Simultaneously, the quadrennial meeting among the representatives of Moscow, Tehran, Beijing and Islamabad was held to discuss the Afghanistan’s condition and Afghan peace process.
A joint statement published by Iranian foreign ministry praised the power-sharing agreement between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, hopping that the agreement would accelerate the efforts for the beginning of intra-Afghan-negotiations.
The representatives of the four countries called direct-Afghan-talks as the only path to peace and truce, and urged the related sides to take advantage of the present opportunity to end the longest conflict in the country.
After a year longstanding, Ghani and Abdullah, who were opposing each other on power, forged an agreement to end the country’s political crisis. In accordance to the agreement, Abdullah is Chairman of the Consultative High Council and would be managing all-type of peace efforts.
