Kathmandu: The government of the State of Qatar has called a couple of meetings this week to discuss the peace process of Afghanistan. Special envoys and representatives from China, Uzbekistan, United States, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Qatar, the United Nations, and the European Union met in Doha on August 10 in one such meeting.
Likewise, the special envoys and representatives of Germany, India, Norway, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United States, and the United Nations met on August 12 to assess the status of intra-Afghan negotiations.
The participants of the meeting agreed that the peace process needs to be accelerated as a matter of great urgency on the basis of the negotiations of concrete proposals from both sides and urged both sides to take steps to build trust and accelerate efforts to reach a political settlement and comprehensive ceasefire as quickly as possible.
They have also called for a political settlement based on the guiding principles of inclusive governance, respect for human rights including the rights of women and minorities, a mechanism to deliver a representative government and a commitment to not allow any individuals or groups to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of other countries.
Participants raised grave concerns aboutviolence, large numbers of civilian casualties and extra-judicial killings, widespread human rights violations, attacks (ground and air) against provincial capitals and cities, and the destruction of physical infrastructure that is taking place in Afghanistan at the moment.
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