Pakistan, China, US join Afghan peace talks in Kabul

KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States started a second round of talks on Monday aimed at laying the ground for a negotiated end to almost 15 years of war between US-supported government forces and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

Representatives from the four countries met in Kabul to revive a peace process that collapsed last summer.

Any further delay by the Taliban "to come to the table for talks now will further isolate them in the eyes of the Afghan people", Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani said in his opening remarks.

Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry is in Kabul to attend the quadrilateral meeting. This is the second round of the four-nation dialogue. A previous round of talks took place in Islamabad a week ago.

The ultimate goal of the diplomatic manoeuvring is to get representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban into direct negotiations on the country´s future.

The Taliban, which now controls or contests more territory than at any time since it was ousted by a US-led intervention in 2001, will not attend the talks.

Taliban forces have stepped up their campaign in the last year to topple the Kabul government, which has struggled since most foreign troops left at the end of 2014. High-profile suicide attacks and Taliban territorial gains in Helmand province have underlined how far Afghanistan remains from peace.

Afghanistan's chief negotiator said last week that the talks on Monday would focus on creating a peace plan to persuade the Taliban to give up violence.

Although the Afghan army and the Taliban are intensifying fighting on the battlefield, a political settlement is seen as the most likely solution to the conflict.