Kabul asks cleric to help in talks with Taliban

Aprominent Pakistani cleric says an Afghan delegation has asked him to mediate between the Kabul government and the Taliban to help resolve the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan.

Maulana Sami-ul-Haq runs a religious school, the Haqqania seminary in the town of Akora Khattak in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. Many Taliban figures studied there.

Haq’s seminary says he met with the Afghan representatives on Monday night.

He suggested a secret meeting between Afghan religious leaders and the Taliban, “without US and Pakistani interference”.

The Afghan delegation included former governor of Nangarhar province, Ataullah Lodin, government peace committee member Qasim Haleemi and others.

Earlier in January last year, Afghan President Ashraf Gani sought help from Haq to arrange talks with the Afghan Taliban.

The Afghan president commended the services of the cleric and the Dar-ulUloom Haqqania institute.

Gani said then that Haq was not just a revered figure for the Afghan Taliban but the entire Afghan nation, and that he himself viewed Haq as a mentor.