US, China, Russia, Pakistan to meet amid alarm at Taliban’s sweep through Afghanistan

Name: Taliban claims key border crossings in Afghanistan as US commander departs country
Uploaded: 2021-08-10T15:00:20.000Z
Duration: 1 min 42 s
Description: Taliban claims key border crossings in Afghanistan as US commander departs country

Representatives of the four countries are to meet in Doha in bid to get the Taliban and Kabul government to commit to peace talks and avoid civil war

India’s absence from talks has raised eyebrows; New Delhi is keen to prevent a return to the 1990s when Pakistan-linked terrorists operated from Afghan soil

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Taliban fighters in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan. Photo: AP

Pranay Sharma

Published: 11:00pm, 10 Aug 2021Updated: 10:37pm, 16 Aug 2021

The United States, China, Russia and Pakistan will meet in Qatar’s capital of Doha on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan, as the Taliban’s military offensive threatens to overrun the Kabul government, paving the way for civil war.

At the “extended troika” meeting, representatives of the four countries, who last met in March and April in Moscow and Doha, will hold consultations before meeting representatives of the Taliban and Kabul government to urge them to commit to peace talks, which fizzled out after their last meeting on July 17.

The US State Department said on Monday its envoy on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, would be in Doha for “several planned rounds of meetings over three days”.

“He will press the Taliban to stop their military offensive and to negotiate a political settlement, which is the only path to stability and development in Afghanistan,” the State Department said.

At a news conference on Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said this meeting would take place on Wednesday, while Pakistani sources told Voice of America that it would be preceded by a Tuesday discussion involving Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours as well as representatives of Russia, the United Nations and the US.

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Taliban claims key border crossings in Afghanistan as US commander departs country

International alarm over Afghanistan has risen in recent weeks as the US military’s troop withdrawal, which is expected to be completed by the end of the month, has given the Taliban an opportunity to make sweeping advances in their bid to seize control of the country. The Pentagon last month estimated that the Taliban controlled half of Afghanistan’s 419 districts.