PM hopes Pakistan-aided US-Taliban talks promote peace process, end Afghan suffering
ABU DHABI-ISLAMABAD-KABUL (18th Dec, 2018) Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan today vide his twitter account announced : “Pakistan has helped in the dialogue between Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi. Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people. Pakistan will be doing everything within its power to further the peace process”.
Pakistan has helped in the dialogue between Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi. Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people. Pakistan will be doing everything within its power to further the peace process.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 18, 2018
PM’s statement comes a day after United States diplomats and Afghan Taliban representatives met in the United Arab Emirates for the first round of talks facilitated by Pakistan on finding a negotiated settlement of Afghan war.
The meeting in Abu Dhabi was also attended by officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
There were no statements from the participating parties at the end of the daylong meeting, although Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal had officially announced the start of the talks through a tweet.
“Talks are being held in UAE,” Dr Faisal tweeted as the meeting in the UAE got under way. He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and expressed the hope that the engagement that began in the UAE would “end bloodshed in Afghanistan and bring peace to the region”.
It was the third meeting between the Taliban and US officials since the appointment of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as US special envoy for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
However, this was the first meeting sponsored by Pakistan after official US President’s Donald Trump request – conducted outside Doha which hosts Taliban’s political office and was the venue of the previous two rounds. It is believed that the latest meeting was convened outside Qatar to highlight Pakistan’s role in arranging it and at the same time allowing participation of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both of whom had last year cut diplomatic ties with Doha.
Ambassador Khalilzad led the US side, whereas Taliban were represented at the talks by their ‘political negotiators’ from Qatar office.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had confirmed in a statement sent to VoA the participation of insurgents’ political negotiators in the meeting with American officials.
“Talks revolved around withdrawal of occupation forces from Afghanistan, ending the oppression being carried out by the United States and her allies,” Mujahid said in a statement today, adding that “views were exchanged with the said countries about peace and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
“Moreover, preliminary talks were held with the said countries along with the State Department’s Special Representative Zalmai Khalilzad at the end of the day.
The Afghan government was not represented at Monday’s meeting because Taliban have stood firmly on not talking to the Afghan government, whom they call the puppet regime, and insisted on talking directly to the US.
The Afghan government, however, held consultations with the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE a day before the talks with Taliban. Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who took part in the quadrilateral meeting on Sunday, tweeted on Monday that “President Ashraf Ghani’s roadmap for peace presented at Geneva and direct engagement of Afghan government with Taliban for intra-Afghan dialogue” were discussed.
Kabul, despite not getting a seat at the talks, is seeing the process positively. The Washington Post quoted Shah Hussain Murtazawi, a spokesman for President Ghani, as having said that the US-Taliban meeting was being coordinated with the Afghan government. “The Afghan government supports any effort and action that paves the way for an Afghan-led peace process,” he said.
The meeting in this negotiations process at UAE will continue today as per sources.