Pakistan to Bring Afghan Taliban Back into Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Pakistan will spare no effort to resume peace negotiations between Afghan Taliban and the administration of President Ashraf Ghani, even as the extremist group's new leader has called for the military campaign to continue.
A day after new Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor cast doubts on a fledgling peace process, a senior Pakistani official said Islamabad would try to persuade the new Taliban leadership to resume talks with the administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, according to local media sources.
“There is no change in our policy. We are making sincere efforts to restart peace negotiations as soon as possible,” said the official who is familiar with the process, Express Tribune reported on Monday.
When asked, the official confirmed to a local media outlet that Pakistan would continue encouraging all the parties, particularly the new Taliban leadership, to come to the negotiating table.
The second round of face-to-face talks between Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives, brokered by Pakistan, was postponed following confirmation of Mullah Omar’s death two years ago, sources claimed.
