United States welcomes China's proposal of intra-Afghan peace talks

The United States welcomed the Chinese proposal to host the next intra-Afghan meeting aimed at bringing the Afghan official and the Taliban together after US President Donald Trump ended the talks abruptly. Trump had cancelled the meeting with the Taliban leaders, scheduled at Camp David, citing the death of a US soldier.

Moscow meeting of four countries

In a joint statement issued by the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan, on peace in Afghanistan, the special representatives of the four countries acknowledged the demand of the Afghan people for 'lasting peace and an end to the war'.

“We agreed on steps in support of the Afghan people’s desire to end the war and bring lasting peace”, said Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.

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Khalilzad held a meeting, last week in Moscow, with his colleagues from China, Russia and Pakistan to review the current situation in Afghanistan. They urged all sides to immediately reduce violence in order to create an environment conducive for negotiations. The four sides stated their expectations on the ceasefire and said the duration of intra-Afghan negotiations should be violence-free to enable participants to reach an agreement.

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'Ensure international terrorists do not use Afghan soil'

The representatives of the four countries called on all Afghans including the government and the Taliban to ensure “international terrorists do not use Afghan soil to threaten the security of any other country”.

They said that they “welcomed the Chinese proposal to host the next intra-Afghan meeting in Beijing with the participation of a wide range of political figures of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, including representatives of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, other Afghan leaders and the Taliban.”

On October 22, the Special Envoys and Special Representatives of the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, the UK, the UN and the USA had met at the EU Headquarters to discuss the Afghan peace process. They had called upon the Afghanistan government to “effectively fight corruption” and to implement anti-corruption legislation.

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