Political commentators said Thursday that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) has so far failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process in terms of bringing the Taliban to the negotiations tables.
The QCG, which involves senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China, wrapped up their fifth meeting in Pakistan on Wednesday without any visible signs of progress on the Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
As such, Afghan political experts have criticized the QCG for not getting the Taliban to the peace talks table. They also said the Afghan government has failed to convince Pakistan’s strategic allies, the United States and China, to use their influence on Pakistan to stop harboring the Taliban’s leaders and for not taking action against Haqqani network operatives on its soil.
The QCG however has expressed its continued determination to advance the goal of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process.
In the meantime, Washington has reiterated calls to the Taliban to enter the peace process, asking Pakistan to take action against operatives of Haqqani terror network.
“We continue to discuss and to talk and to try to work together with Pakistani leadership to get at what is very real, very shared, challenged, not just to the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the entire region,” U.S State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
“QCG should have mounted pressure on Pakistan to decide between two options whether it is against terrorism or supporting it,” MP Fawzia Kofi said.
“Afghan government should have categorically announced that so long as Pakistan fails to abide by its commitments, participation in the meeting would be meaningless,” former Afghan diplomat to Pakistan, Ahmad Saeedi said.
Amid the controversy, there is a perception however in Afghanistan that neighboring countries such as Pakistan and other world powers are pursuing their own interests.
“Afghanistan’s neighbors and the world’s powerful countries see their interests in the continuation of war in Afghanistan,” one political analyst Nasir Ahmad said.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan will continue with the blame games, unless the U.S resolves the problems,” said another Afghan analyst, Turgul.
A date for the next QCG meeting has not however been set, but Afghans in general want government to ask the U.S and China to use their influence on Pakistan to stop supporting the militant group.http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/25378-qcg-fails-to-draw-taliban-to-peace-table-analysts
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