Afghanistan hosts talks with Pakistan and China

Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China are meeting in the Afghan capital to discuss trade, development and ending the region’s relentless conflicts.

Shahussain Murtazawi, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan president, said envoys meeting Saturday will discuss everything from regional economic development to security.

It is the second such meeting of the three neighbouring countries.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is attending the meeting on his second visit to Kabul since assuming office.

“Both Pakistan and China desire peace, prosperity and development in Afghanistan,” Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad before his departure.

Local broadcaster Geo TV quoted Qureshi as saying that, “We are carrying the message of friendship and peace to Afghanistan.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan have long accused each other of failing to combat the Taliban and other armed groups that operate along their porous border.

Afghanistan and the United States also accuse Islamabad of providing support to the Taliban fighting the Afghan government and international forces in the country. Pakistan rejects this accusation.

But Kabul has been pushing Islamabad to use its influence on the Taliban leaders allegedly hiding in Pakistani border regions to convince them to open peace talks with the Afghan government.

On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan confirmed that Islamabad was facilitating talks between the US and the Afghan Taliban. The talks are scheduled to begin on December 17, Dawn newspaper reported.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump also asked Pakistan to help bring the Taliban to the negotiating table in Afghanistan.

The neighbours are also set to discuss economic projects in the region.

China has lent tens of billions of dollars to Pakistan and the two have forged close economic ties as part of Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” policy of expanding trade links across Asia.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a key cog of that policy, under which Beijing has pledged $60bn to build power stations, major highways, new and upgraded railways and higher capacity ports, to help turn Pakistan into a major overland route linking western China to the world.