Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Tuesday, March 19th, 2024

Pakistan Urges Taliban to Take Part in Peace Talks in Afghanistan

Pakistan Urges Taliban  to Take Part in Peace Talks in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD- Pakistani prime minister YousufRazaGilani called on Taliban leaders and other Afghan insurgent groups Thursday to take part in a peace process to end 10 years of war in neighboring Afghanistan.
"I would like to appeal to the Taliban leadership as well as to all other Afghan groups, including Hizb-e-Islami, to participate in an intra-Afghan process for national reconciliation and peace," he said in a statement.
President Hamid Karzai invited the Taliban for direct talks with his government again this week, urging Pakistan to facilitate negotiation efforts in Afghanistan, where US-led combat troops are due to leave by 2014.

Taliban representatives have begun contacts with US officials in the Gulf state of Qatar designed to build confidence and pave the way for a prisoner exchange, but the militia has publicly refused to talk to Karzai's government.

Pakistan says it will do anything required by Kabul to support an Afghan-led peace process, but there is a wide degree of skepticism in Afghanistan and the US about the sincerity of the former Taliban ally.
"It is now time to turn a new leaf and open a new chapter in the history of Afghanistan ... to build peace and bring prosperity to Afghanistan" Gilani said. (AFP)