"Six Plus Two" Committed to Political Solution to Afghan ConflictThe members of the "Six Plus Two" group Friday pledged their commitment to a peaceful, political settlement of the Afghan conflict in accordance with the resolutions and decisions of the United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly.The move came after the group had a high-level meeting on Afghanistan at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The group urged Afghanistan's warring parties, the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance, to cooperate fully with the personal representative of the U.N. secretary-general on Afghanistan in moving the peace process forward in its shortest possible time. It expressed renewed commitment to continue to work closely with and in support of the U.N. secretary-general and his personal representative to assist in establishing a meaningful agenda that will address the issues at the core of the Afghan conflict. The "Six Plus Two" requested the personal representative of the U.N. secretary-general to report to it by February 1, 2001 on the progress achieved in the process of dialogue agreed upon by the two warring sides. The Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance agreed Friday to enter into a process of dialogue under U.N. auspices to bring about an end to the armed conflict in the country. Afghanistan has been plagued by a bloody civil war since the Islamic factions toppled the former pro-Soviet government in 1992. The "Six Plus Two" group, comprising Afghanistan's six neighbors of China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan plus Russia and the United States, has been calling for a settlement of the Afghan conflict through talks. |
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