RAWALPINDI – US Special Representative for Afghanistan ReconciliationAmbassador Zalmay Khalilzad appreciated Pakistan’s untiring efforts forfacilitating the process towards the mutual objective of peace in theregion.
According Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the US peace envoy statedthis during a meeting with General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff(COAS) at GHQ on Monday.
Regional security situation, Afghan peace process with particular referenceto border management and way forward for lasting peace in Afghanistan werediscussed during the meeting.
Under that agreement, all foreign forces are to leave Afghanistan by May2021 in return for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which haspledged to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and a power-sharing agreementwith the Afghan government.
Afghan Peace Talks
Following a peace deal reached in February 2020 between the US and theTaliban, negotiations between the Afghan government and the Talibandirectly opened in September with an aim to end nearly 19-year-old conflictthat has claimed thousands of lives.
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Under the deal, both parties also swapped prisoners to make headway for thetalks.
The direct negotiations between the Afghan government representatives andthe Taliban seems in danger as both sides are in deadlock over theframework and agenda for the historic talks amid rising violence by themilitant group.
Earlier this month, Zalmay Khalilzad Khalilzad said that the “window toachieve a political settlement will not stay open forever”. He urged bothparties to “move past procedure and into substantive negotiations.”
