Afghanistan: The Calm before the Storm

May 7, 2016 | Naqeebullah Miakhel and Najibullah Noorzai, Diplomat
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The Afghan Government’s position on direct peace negotiations with the Taliban through the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), involving senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China, changed after the group staged a deadly bomb attack and assault on April 19, which killed 64 people and wounded 347 others in Kabul. A week after the attack, President Ashraf Ghani, in his speech to the Afghan parliament, announced new security policies to take a harsh stand against Pakistan, the Haqqani network, Daesh (ISIS), and the Taliban.