With representatives from 20 neighbouring and regional nations, along with international organisations, the Afghan government is set to host their third international conference on the peace process on Thursday.

Representatives from Iran, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, the UAE, the U.S., the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, the United Nations and NATO are expected to be in attendance for the online meeting.
It will be hosted by President Ashraf Ghani and will focus on the Reduction in Violence (RiV), prisoner exchange, start of the intra-Afghan talks, and even the COVID-19 response.
The last such meeting was the trilateral virtual meeting held between Afghanistan, Pakistan and China on Tuesday where they reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening communication and coordination and enhancing mutual trust and cooperation under the trilateral cooperation mechanism.
China and Pakistan called on the Taliban to reduce violence to help pave the way for the start of the intra-Afghan talks.
The three further agreed to the cooperate against COVID-19 and reached consensus on the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, while calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.
In the Monday meeting with the regional nations and allies, Ghani urged the international community to support the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan.
He said the peace process was facing challenges as the Taliban was not cooperating, the violence levels were high and recent reports showed they continued to maintain contact with other terrorist networks.