US endorses Pak-Afghan-UK summit declaration

Endorsing Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United Kingdom’s summit declaration, the United States on Tuesday said it was committed to supporting an Afghan-led peace process.
During a daily press briefing, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “As you know, last month we had our own meeting. President Barack Obama had welcomed President Hamid Karzai here to Washington. And in that context, they reaffirmed that an Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process is the surest way to end the violence and ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan and in the region.”
“We believe that the UK-Afghanistan-Pakistan Chequers summit that occurred this weekend, was clearly an advance in this process. We fully endorse the contents of the joint statement that those three governments came forward with, and we are committed ourselves to support an Afghan-led process,” she said.
She said Washington’s goal here had been to support the creation of a process to make it possible, both in the work that it was doing with the Afghan government, the work that it was doing with the Pakistan government “and the three of us together through the core group, and our support for the opening of the office in Qatar under the right circumstance, to make it possible for willing Taliban participants to talk directly to the Afghan High Peace Council”.
“That’s what we’re looking for, and we call on the Taliban to take the steps necessary to open the office in Doha and to enter into real dialogue with the High Peace Council,” she said.