Pakistan pressing Taliban for talks with Ghani govt

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): The Pakistan leaders to launch peace negotiations with the Ashraf Ghani administration, two prime ministerial aides were quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Pakistan had long been asking the Taliban to agree to peace talks with the Afghan government, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said. “We urged them again to hold talks instead of fighting the Afghan government.”

He told The News Islamabad, having facilitated the Afghan peace talks in the past, was trying to do so again. Aziz denied Pakistan had warned the Taliban leaders they would be expelled if it was kept out of the talks.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi confirmed Pakistan had been telling the Taliban the use of force was no solution to the Afghan conflict.

“We have been insisting there is no other option except reconciliation in Afghanistan through peace talks,” he said, adding Pakistan clung to its stance that Afghanistan’s enemies were also Pakistan’s foes.

Meanwhile, the Taliban acknowledged being asked by Pakistani to enter into dialogue with Kabul. A three-member Taliban delegation was conveyed the wish during its recent visit to Islamabad.

Mullah Shahabuddin Dilawar, Mullah Jan Mohammad Madani and Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi, all members of the Doha-based Taliban Political Commission, traveled to Pakistan in late October. 

The delegation reportedly conveyed the Pakistan government’s message to senior Taliban leaders before returning to Qatar. The Taliban Leadership Council sought time to answer the Pakistani message after consulting the military commanders.

Any decision taken without the commanders’ consent would be hard to implement, the newspaper reported. “Taliban military commanders and fighters hold the key to continuing or ending the war.”

Taliban sources told the daily the consultation process would take time as they were fighting in almost all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan and making contact with commanders was not always easy.

PAN Monitor/mud

Views: 14