For the first time, the Afghan government has confirmed that its representatives are holding face-to-face meetings in Pakistan with the Taliban to prepare for peace talks.
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Officials from the United States and China were observers in the talks held on Tuesday at Murree, a hill resort on the outskirts of Islamabad, a statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, Sayed Zafar Hashemi, Ghani’s deputy spokesman, said the delegation is being led by deputy foreign minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has tried to persuade Pakistan to arrange peace talks with the Taliban since he took office a year ago.
“The problem is it (the meeting) further deepened differences between Mansour and Zakir”, he said.
The Taliban last month admitted taking part in informal talks in Norway with an Afghan delegation, reportedly made up of women.
Many Afghans remain wary of Pakistan, however, blaming it for helping to bring the Taliban to power in the mid-1990s as well as supporting the militants after their ouster.
“In the long term, peace is not a luxury, it is a necessity”, said Nicholas Haysom, the United Nations secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan.
Al Jazeera reported that the attack took place at a compound in Kabul’s District Eight, and gunmen had taken up positions within it.
“The Afghan government has also floated a proposal, which would further be negotiated, asking the Taliban to at least announce a ceasefire in non-combat zones – cities and towns – if they [Taliban] are not ready for a generalised cease-fire”, the source maintained. “The representatives of China and the U.S. also participated in the meeting”, it said. After one such meeting in Qatar, the Taliban released a statement saying that it “should not be misconstrued as peace or negotiation talks”.
Stretched on multiple fronts and facing record casualties, Afghan forces are struggling to rein in the militants, and there are persistent fears that the Islamic State group is growing in influence in the country’s restive southeast. Less than three weeks ago, Taliban militants rammed a vehicle full of explosives into the main gates of the Afghan parliament while it was in session, sending lawmakers running for the exits.
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“The question, of course, is whether these Taliban leaders can carry the fighters with them, or whether the leaders immediately lose their followers the moment they talk about peace”, the diplomat said.
