Kabul to host international conference on peace

Afghanistan will hold an international conference on peace, security and reconciliation on 6 June, which will be attended by nearly 20 countries in the wake of the increased violence unleashed by the Taliban in its annual spring offensive.

"The Kabul Process meeting will be held by the instructions of the President Dr Ashraf Ghani to bring various processes/meetings on Afghanistan under one umbrella, "The Daily Times quoted Zardasht Shams, deputy head of the mission at the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, as saying.

He said anti-terrorism cooperation will be one of the key issues discussed at the conference.

A Pakistani official said Pakistan will participate in the line with "our policy to go to all Afghan meetings" to contribute in peace and reconciliation in the war-ravaged country.

President Ashraf Ghani has floated an idea to start the "Kabul Process" to keep all stakeholders onboard about the situation in Afghanistan .The United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, Russia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Germany, France ,China,UN and European Union will also attend the conference.

The Kabul conference assumes much significance as Russia hosted a similar sort of meeting to find a solution to the Afghan problem in mid-April. At that time, 11 countries participated. The United States skipped the event over concerns about growing Russian interests and diplomacy in the region.

It is being speculated that President Ghani proposed " Kabul Process" conference is actually Washington's initiative to "sideline the Moscow Process".

-ANI