Quadrilateral meeting begins in Oman with hope for peace in Afghanistan

KARACHI: As the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meets in Oman on Monday to revive the moribund peace process in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials believes realisation sinking in the Trump administration that the use of military force could not end one of the longest, costliest, and deadliest wars in the American history.

The QCG, made up of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States, was set up in January last year with the aim to find a political solution to the Afghan conflict.

The quartet has had five meetings but the process hit a dead-end in May 2016 after the killing of Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in a US drone strike in Balochistan. The strike was construed by analysts as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the dialogue process.

Tehmina Janjua reiterates call for Afghan govt, Taliban talks for peace

After hiatus of a year and half, the group convened in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Monday. Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua is representing Pakistan at the session. Though in the previous meetings, Pakistan had been proactively involved, but this time around it is following a different approach, sources told The Express Tribune.

“There has been no official statement from the Foreign Office before the departure of Janjua for Muscat which shows a lack of enthusiasm on the part of Pakistan,” one source added.

This is because of an unabated blame game from the Kabul administration and the United States, and deliberate attempts from certain quarters in Afghanistan to undermine Pakistan-brokered peace efforts.

The Murree Process, which was initiated due to the efforts of the then army chief General Raheel Sharif, was sabotaged allegedly by the Afghan intelligence agency, the NDS, which leaked the news of death of Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar.

India ‘not responsible’ for Pak-Afghan tensions

Officials say the NDS is colluding with India’s top spy agency, RAW, to destabilise Pakistan.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairman of Senate’s Committee on Defence, has welcomed the revival of QCG, saying that Pakistan is the “most pivotal player in the meeting”.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mushahid said the recent meeting between Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul might have helped revived the QCG process.

This is one of the first steps to ‘enhance confidence’ between the two countries, he added.

Talking about previous peace efforts by Pakistan, he reiterated that Mullah Omer’s death had been used as a decoy to damage the peace efforts. “There are elements, for instance India, which do not want Pakistan to play a lead role in the peace process,” he said.

He insisted that Pakistan holds the biggest stake for the success of the meeting. “We will do what we can with our limited leverage.”

The QCG comes weeks after US President Trump emphasised on a military victory in Afghanistan, indicating a change in gears for the Trump administration. “Trump has his mood swings,”  Mushahid said. “One day he [Trump] says he would be honoured to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, the next day he calls him ‘rocket man’”.

“Irrespective of Trump’s mood swings, our policy is consistent,” he said.

“We have a strategic stake in peace and stability in Afghanistan. We will always be here,” he said, adding, ” The US may be here today, they may not be here tomorrow.”

Mushahid believes it has dawned on the US that they cannot afford confrontation any longer. “With war talk with North Korea, confronting Russian President Valdmir Putin, containing China, and scrutinising the Iran nuclear deal afresh – how much pressure can the US sustain?”

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