Pakistan and the Taliban call for peace negotiations with the US to resume
Pakistan and the Taliban on Thursday called for peace talks to resume between the militant group and the US.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban co-founder who spent eight years in a Pakistani jail, met Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the country’s intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed in Islamabad.
Footage released by the ministry showed the men greeting one another warmly in Pakistan’s capital.
Afghan media reported that Taliban representatives also met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Both sides agreed on the need for the earliest resumption of the peace process,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
Islamabad wants talks between the militants and the US to resume “to smooth the path for a durable, long-lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan”, Mr Qureshi said.
“War is not a solution to any problem. Talks are the only positive solution to establish peace in Afghanistan,” he said.
Pakistan was one of only three countries to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate regime in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s military establishment, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence led by Lt Gen Hameed, is widely believed to back the group’s insurgency. Islamabad has denied the accusation.
Pakistan has helped enable talks between the Taliban and Washington in Qatar during the past year.
The negotiations centred on finding an agreement that paved the way for a US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in return for various security promises from the insurgents.
The visit of Taliban leaders to Islamabad coincided with the arrival of Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special peace envoy for Afghanistan, who was also in Pakistan’s capital for consultations with officials.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who lives in Doha, said on Wednesday that the simultaneous visits of Taliban and US officials to Pakistan were a coincidence.
But when asked whether there was any possibility of the militant group meeting Mr Khalilzad, Mr Shaheen said: “Why not? It depends on the Americans.”
The Taliban are still prepared to sign the agreement that was hashed out between the two sides in Doha, he said.
“We stand for it. The Americans have backtracked and they will have to take the initiative,” he said.
Before going to Pakistan, the Taliban delegation travelled to Russia, China and Iran, a Taliban spokesman said.
The insurgents and the US were on the brink of a deal, with an announcement widely expected last month, when US President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process dead, citing continued Taliban violence.
War is not a solution to any problem. Talks are the only positive solution to establish peace in Afghanistan SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI Pakistan’s Foreign Minister