VOA News / December 28, 2017 Hasib Danish Alikozai Afghan religious leaders Wednesday called on the Afghan Taliban to sever ties with terror groups and join the Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process. The High Peace Council (HPC), a government-funded body tasked with bringing insurgents to negotiations, invited more than 700 religious scholars from all 34
VOA Deewa Service December 15, 2017 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The Taliban, known for its extreme Islamic rule before U.S. forces ousted the group from power in Afghanistan, have largely devolved into groups of criminals and terrorists, the country’s ambassador to Pakistan says. The change is critical as Afghanistan tries to create a lasting peace after decades
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News / November 1, 2017 KARACHI, PAKISTAN — An Afghan civil society organization said it is working on its own to organize a meeting in the Gulf later this month between the Taliban and influential members of the Afghan Society. Khalilullah Safi, a founding member of the Afghanistan Peace Studies Organization, APSO, said
VOA News / October 15, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to resume four-way discussions Monday in Oman in a renewed bid to seek a politically negotiated settlement to the Afghan war. The meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Cooperation Group, or QCG, in the Gulf state is taking place after
Press TV / October 11, 2017 The four-nation Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QGC), comprising Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States, are expected to hold a meeting in Oman next week to revive stalled peace talks involving the Taliban militant group. A senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting would be convened in
VOA News / October 10, 2017 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban’s stance of not engaging in peace talks with the current Afghan government “remains unchanged” and the insurgent group has “nothing to do” with next week’s four-nation dialogue in Oman aimed at seeking a politically negotiated end to the war, a senior insurgent official said Tuesday. Negotiators
VOA News October 6, 2017 Daniel Schearf Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says other countries in the region may be able to sway the Taliban into peace talks better than Islamabad, including Russia. “At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is a mistrust … perhaps they have more influence from other countries
VOA News Ayaz Gul July 19, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Prominent women rights defenders from Afghanistan and Pakistan have jointly called on their governments to push for the inclusion of women in any peace negotiations aimed at easing bilateral tensions and resolving an increasingly deadly Afghan conflict. The two countries share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border, and landlocked
Michael Hughes: Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) is tasked with trying to budge the country towards some kind of peace process with a headless Taliban movement while the body faces an existential struggle against Afghan lawmakers. Moreover, President Ashraf Ghani believes negotiations must start not with the Taliban but with the group’s benefactors, although that is
Press TV June 6, 2017 Afghanistan’s government is holding a multi-nation peace conference in the capital, Kabul, which remains on lockdown in the wake of a fatal Daesh bombing last week. The event, dubbed the Kabul Process, opened on Tuesday with the presence of senior diplomats from about two dozen countries and organizations, including Iran, India,