Kabul has no plans to revive a peace process aimed at bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table after a four-nation effort earlier this year produced no results, the spokesman of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said.
The four-nation group–comprising Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States–has met five times since January without the Taliban, which has refused to join any peace talks.
“There is no set time for another meeting of the group,” spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri told AP on Thursday.
Chakhansuri’s remarks reflect the Kabul administration’s disappointment over what it has described as half-hearted efforts by neighboring Pakistan to jumpstart the peace process.
Ghani has accused Pakistan of harboring Taliban leaders, an allegation that Islamabad denies, Al Jazeera reports.
Afghanistan continues to suffer from “terrorist groups that operate from and have a support base in Pakistan”, Chakhansuri said.
However, Omar Zakhilwar, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, said that Afghanistan is still ready to seize any opportunity that would bring peace in the country.
“The Taliban has refused several times in the past to join the peace talks, whereas we are making any efforts possible to draw out a plan with the concerned parties in order to bring peace,” Zakhilwal told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“But if the Taliban continue to call for war, we are ready to face them and defeat them.
