Taliban to hold another round of talks with Chinese officials this month

Chinese research institution planning to host leaders of Afghan groups, including Taliban

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban are scheduled to hold another round of talks with Chinese officials this month as efforts for reconciliation in Afghanistan are stepped up, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Taliban negotiators and Chinese officials have so far held two rounds of talks– one in Beijing and the second in Islamabad over the past six months.

The next round is expected to be held with the cooperation of Pakistan, an Afghan source privy to the ongoing consultations said on Monday. Pakistani officials are also likely to attend this talk.

The Chinese are pushing the Taliban to hold direct talks with the Afghan government and broker a peace deal, a proposal that the militants have rejected so far.

In November, the Taliban had confirmed that its representatives had visited China, but ruled out any role of Beijing for talks with President Ashraf Ghani’s administration.

Chinese officials, however, insisted they do not intend to mediate between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

“We want to encourage the Taliban to sit face to face with the Afghan gov’t,” a Chinese official had told The Express Tribune after a senior Afghan Taliban negotiator Qari Din Muhammad visited Islamabad and met Chinese officials in February.

Muhammad had also led the group’s delegation to Beijing in November.

In another development, a Chinese research institution is planning to host leaders of Afghan groups, including the Taliban, along the pattern of the recently held unofficial meeting in Qatar. The moot is scheduled to be held ahead of next Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process due to be held in Islamabad later this year.

The United Nations will facilitate the meeting, an Afghan official who is aware of the development said on Monday.

Pakistan is deeply involved in arranging the meetings between the Taliban. Both Pakistan and China an intra-Afghan dialogue and both countries believe the situation in Afghanistan has implications for regional security and stability.

In a joint statement issue at the conclusion of the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping last month the two sides had agreed to strengthen cooperation on Afghanistan, support the “Afghan-owned and Afghan-led” peace and reconciliation process and work with the international community to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region.