Taliban delegation visits Pakistan, discusses peace talks amid conflict

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday asked the Taliban to grasp the opportunity and resume talks with the US for an early and peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan, saying war is not a solution, as top leaders of the militant group met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here.
A high-level Taliban delegation met Qureshi as part of a push to revive the Afghan peace process stalled after US President Donald Trump abruptly declared the talks with the rebel group “dead”.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that a delegation of the Taliban Political Commission (TPC) called on Qureshi. The delegation was led by the head of TPC Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar and included senior members of the commission. Welcoming the delegation, the Foreign Minister noted that while the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan have a shared history, geography and culture, Islam remains the strongest bond between the two brotherly countries.
“While appreciating Taliban’s serious engagement in the peace process, he underscored the need to take these efforts to their logical conclusion,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi noted that the existing, broad regional and international consensus for achieving peace in Afghanistan at the earliest provided an unprecedented opportunity that must not be lost.
The US and the Taliban had agreed on draft peace plan, but the process was suspend by President Trump following killing of an American soldier in Kabul last month in a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban.
Trump stunned the world when he suddenly declared that the Afghan peace talks with the Taliban were “dead”.
He cancelled a secret meeting with the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at Camp David near Washington after the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul, in which an American soldier was among the dead. Qureshi said it was up to the parties to the conflict in Afghanistan to grasp this opportunity.
Qureshi also expressed the hope that the currently paused peace process would be restarted at an early date. Qureshi said that “Pakistan has maintained for several years that there is no military solution to the complex situation in Afghanistan.”
An inclusive peace and reconciliation process, involving all sections of the Afghan society, was the only, practical way forward.
“It was time to make all possible efforts for an early and peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan,” he said.
Qureshi added that Pakistan would continue to support all efforts to achieve permanent peace in Afghanistan which was essential for Pakistan’s own socio-economic development and progress. Qureshi said all these years Pakistan has also kept reminding the world not to overlook the hardcore political, economic, socio-cultural and ethnic ground realities in Afghanistan and its immediate neighbourhood.
Foreign Minister further noted that the direct Taliban-US talks since last year, strongly and sincerely supported by Pakistan, had now laid a firm ground for achieving a sustainable peace deal in Afghanistan.
“A pacific settlement of the conflict would lead to a significant reduction of violence, end of bloodshed and long-term peace, stability and prosperity for future generations of Afghanistan,” he said.
This was first ever-visit of a Taliban delegation to Pakistan since the establishment of the TPC.
Official sources said that the talks between Qureshi and the Taliban went on for more than one and half hours. (PTI)