All Taliban groups entered for direct talks with Afghan government

Nafees Zakaria, spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Office, told reports that a consensus exists that the upcoming talks between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban will be without pre-conditions.

“The QCG has a joint responsibility to move the reconciliation process forward and make a direct dialogue between the Afghan government and various Taliban groups and others possible,” he added.

This comes as Taliban group’s political office in Qatar said Wednesday that they are unaware of the proposed peace talks but they insisted on the group’s preconditions to sit-in for peace talks.  According to Khaama press.

Pakistan has offered to host the first round of direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives following the conclusion of the fourth round of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting on Tuesday.

“The QCG member states invite all Taliban and other groups to participate through their authorized representatives in the first round of direct peace talks with the Afghan government expected to take place by the first week of March 2016,” according to a joint statement by QCG.

The statement further added that the fifth round of the QCG meeting will take place in Islamabad immediately after the first round of direct peace talks.