Daily Times

Pakistan and Iran have held high-level talks on cooperation to push the fragile Afghan peace process forward and evolve a common approach in the upcoming important conference on Afghan peace.

The talks were held between Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and other officials in Tehran, Iranian state IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

It was reported that in a meeting the visiting Pakistani special envoy Zarif said that Iran backs peace in Afghanistan. Sadiq said that his consultation with Iranian foreign minister was satisfactory, while elaborating on Pakistan’s stance on developments in Afghanistan, the state media added.

During the meeting Zarif stressed the need to promote regional cooperation to help establish peace in Afghanistan and preserve achievements gained by Afghan people.

Sadiq visited Iranian capital late on Saturday for bilateral consultations ahead of an important meeting in Moscow on March 18.

Meanwhile, Taliban political spokesman Mohammad Naeem announced on Monday that a high-level Taliban delegation, led by Mullah Baradar Akhund, Deputy Chief of the Political Affairs and Head of the Political Office of the Taliban, will attend the meeting due to be held in Moscow.

In a tweet, Naeem also added that a multilateral meeting was also held on Sunday evening, with Qatari deputy Prime Minister and his team, special envoy of the US Zalmay Khalilzad and his team, head of the political office of the IEA Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the negotiations team Shaykh Molavi Abdul Hakeem Haqqani and the delegation accompanying them, were in attendance.

“The implementation of the Doha agreement, the current situation of Afghanistan and the ongoing process of the Intra-Afghan negotiations were discussed,” he said.

Meanwhile the sources said Afghan government is also sending a delegation to Moscow but the decision of the delegates has not yet been taken.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said a regular expanded “troika” meeting at the level of special representatives from Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan to discuss the intra-Afghan settlement will be held in Moscow on March 18.

The delegations of the Afghan government, the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation and prominent Afghan political figures, as well as the Taliban Movement and, as an honoured guest, Qatar are expected to attend as well. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will deliver a message of greetings, she said last week at a press briefing.

The participants will discuss ways to advance the intra-Afghan talks in Doha, to reduce the level of violence and to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan, as well as to help that country become an independent, peaceful and self-sufficient state, free from terrorism and drug-related crime. A joint statement will then be adopted based on the outcome of the meeting.