<p>PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): A visiting <a href="/en/taliban" class="glossify-link">Taliban</a> delegation and senior Pakistani officials are set to hold talks today (Tuesday) on the launch of intra-Afghan peace negotiations.</p>
<p>Led by <a href="/en/mullah" class="glossify-link">Mullah</a> Abdul Ghani Baradar, the delegation arrived in Islamabad on Monday in response to an invitation from the Foreign Office</p>
<p>The Taliban team would visit Foreign Office for formal talks today, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad late on Monday.</p>
<p>In October last year, a team from Taliban’s political office in Doha had visited <a href="/en/pakistan" class="glossify-link">Pakistan</a> for the first time.</p>
<p>The last trip had helped paved the way for signing of the US-Taliban peace pact in Doha on February 29, the foreign minister claimed.</p>
<p>Qureshi said the delegation had been invited again in the hope that hurdles to the long-delayed Afghan dialogue would be removed and peace talks initiated soon.</p>
<p>The Taliban’s political spokesman says the two sides will discuss recent developments in <a href="/en/afghanistan" class="glossify-link">Afghanistan</a>’s peace process and facilitation of people’s movement.</p>
<p>In addition to trade between the neighbours, Suhail Shaheen tweeted, issues related to Afghan refugees living in Pakistan would come up for discussion.</p>
<p>Differences over a prisoner exchange have delayed the intra-Afghan talks, which were expected to get under way after Eidul Adha.</p>
<p><a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">Kabul</a> has freed about 4,680 insurgent prisoners while the Taliban say they have released 1,000 members of Afghan security forces.</p>
<p>But Kabul is hesitant to release some hard-core Taliban fighters who are allegedly involved deadly attacks.</p>
<p>Qureshi said negotiations remained the “the only way forward” in Afghanistan. “The Afghans themselves have to reconcile and our task is that of a facilitator,” the minister remarked.</p>
<p>“We can’t impose our decisions. We respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty and we are trying to make progress in these engagements,” the foreign minister explained.</p>
<p>mud</p>
