Pakistan says not solely responsible for Afghan peace talks
Islamabad: Pakistan today said it is making serious efforts for peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban but added it was not “solely responsible” for setting up the parleys.
A Pakistan based news paper quoted Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria as saying that a quadrilateral group was formed to streamline the efforts directed towards bringing peace in Afghanistan so “Pakistan cannot solely be held responsible for failure on this account”.
He said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all forms and does not differentiate between terrorist groups, adding that peace in Afghanistan is in the best interests of Pakistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani in a speech yesterday said Afghanistan “no longer expects Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table”.
Ghani had threatened diplomatic reprisals against Pakistan if it refuses to take action against the Afghan Taliban, in a new hard line stance after the Kabul attack last week that killed 64 people.
The attack cast a pall over international efforts in recent months to jumpstart Pakistan-brokered peace talks which stalled last summer after the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of their leader Mullah Omar.
“I want to make it clear that we no longer expect Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table,” Ghani said in a sombre address to both houses of the Afghan parliament.
Separately, a premier news agency reported that an Afghan Taliban delegation based in Qatar was in Karachi for direct talks with the Afghan government but it was not confirmed officially. The report said that Pakistan is under tremendous pressure to bring the Taliban on to the negotiating table.
Last year in July, the first direct open talks were held near Islamabad but the process broke down the same month when death of Taliban chief Omer was made known. Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz admitted this year that Pakistan had some influence over Taliban militants who were living in the country.
