Taliban peace talks to begin in Pakistan

Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are set to begin talks today aimed at restarting the Afghan peace process and eventually ending 14 years of bloodshed fighting the Taliban insurgents.

Officials from the four countries will meet in Islamabad, Pakistan foreign office sources said, in what they hope will be a first step towards resuming stalled negotiations. The Taliban are not expected to attend the talks.

The Islamist militants have stepped up their violent campaign in the last year to oust the government in Kabul. High-profile suicide attacks in the capital and major territorial losses in southern Helmand province have underlined how far the country remains from peace without major Taliban factions on board.

A previous fledging peace process last year was stopped over Taliban founder Mullah Omar's death throwing the militant group into disarray and factional infighting.