ISLAMABAD, Feb. 22 (DNA): The Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif, arrived in Qatar on Monday for talks with the Qatari leadership on security issues ahead of key consultations on the Afghan peace process, the military said.

“The Chief of the Army Staff has arrived in Qatar on one day official visit and will meet political and military leadership,” the Army Spokesman, Lt Gen Asim Bajwa said.

General Bajwa did not give more details about the visit.

The visit comes at a time when senior Afghan, Americans, Chinese, and Pakistani diplomats will meet in Kabul on Tuesday to review progress to start the talks between the Taliban groups and the Afghan gov’t. The meeting is likely to set a date for talks with the Taliban groups and Hizb-e-Islami.

The third round of the four-nation process in its meeting in Islamabad on February 6 had agreed that all member nations will use their “channels” to contact the Taliban office in Qatar and encourage them to join the process, officials familiar with the process have said.

Pakistan’s Army Chief had been involved in consultation with the Afghan leaders about the peace process during a series of his visits to Kabul over the past few months. DNA