Lisa Curtis arrives in Islamabad for ‘Afghan Peace Process’ related meetings

By Sardar Hayaat MUHAMMED Khan Mandokhel 78
Lisa Curtis, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council

ISLAMABAD (January 16, 2019): Senior US official Lisa Curtis yesterday opened her visit to Pakistan with meetings amidst reports that the process of engagement with the Taliban for resuming the ‘Afghan Peace Process’ had stalled, reported by sources.

US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation ‘Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad’, who was also due in Islamabad, could not reach here because of changes in his itinerary. Zalmay Khalilzad in his latest trip to the region has faced several unexpected changes. He is currently in Afghanistan from where he tweeted about his engagements.

“Arrived in Kabul last night. President Ashraf Ghani hosted my team for dinner with a diverse set of Afghan leaders. A good session. We discussed the peace process & all agree that progress depends on Afghans sitting with each other, negotiating a future for all Afghan people”.

No details about Ms Curtis’ meetings were publicly available. She is believed to be here to push for resumption of engagement with the Taliban in addition to certain bilateral issues as per sources.

Last month Pakistan facilitated a meeting between the US special envoy and Taliban representatives in Abu Dhabi. UAE and Saudi officials attended the meeting as observers. It was agreed at the Abu Dhabi meeting that the process would continue and another meeting would be convened, but no date and venue for the next interaction has been set so far.

A diplomatic source said: “The Taliban are refusing to talk to the Afghan government. The US wants Pakistan to pressure Pakistan-based Taliban leadership to accept direct negotiations with the Afghan government”. The Pakistani government, he further said, was insisting that it had little control over the Taliban.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, meanwhile, talking to the president of the East-West Institute and former US ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter said: “Pakistan fully supports a political settlement in Afghanistan which is the only viable option to end this conflict”.

Munter said he continued to advocate strong relationship between Islamabad and Washington as Pakistan was an important country of the region and critical to US national security objectives.

You might also like More from author