Outlook for Peace.docVIP

Outlook for Peace 　　A meeting involving representa- tives from Afghanistan， Pakistan， China and the United States held on January 11 in Islamabad， Pakistan， established the Quadrilateral Coordination Group （QCG） to further the peace process in Afghanistan. 　　The group met a week later in Kabul， Afghanistan， where the delegates issued a joint statement calling on the Taliban to join the peace process and announced that progress had been made on a roadmap for peace talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban. 　　Ma Xiaolin， a professor of international studies at the Beijing Foreign Studies University， told Beijing Review that the meetings signified new international efforts to restart the peace and reconciliation process in the war-torn country. 　　 Important consensus 　　Participants of the QCG have reached a consensus on key principles to promote peace talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban， said Fu Xiaoqiang， Director of the Security and Arms Control Department under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. 　　In an interview with C， a Beijingbased Internet news portal， he said that the four-nation talks once again offered an endorsement of the Afghan Government led by President Ashraf Ghani. According to him， the countries have agreed to maintain and consolidate the Afghan Government and ensure its dominant role in the peace process. 　　The security situation in Afghanistan remains unstable， and the peace process has been stalled since 2004. The Afghan Government， though it is backed by the United States and NATO， struggles in the face of a sustained threat from the Taliban. Peace talks between the two sides have been full of twists and turns. 　　The Afghan Government and international community have repeatedly called on the Taliban to participate in peace talks. In September 2010， the government set up the Afghanistan High Peace Council to seek negotiations with the Taliban. 　　But the Taliban refused to enter into