Afghanistan Chief Peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah seek key commitment from Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s chief peace envoy Dr Abdullah Abdullah has said Pakistani leaders had ‘promised’ during his three-day visit to Islamabad this week to help convince the Afghan Taliban to agree to a ceasefire, a major sticking point in ongoing negotiations between the insurgent group and the Kabul government aimed at ending decades of war.
Taliban offensives in the war-torn country have continued even as Afghan and Taliban negotiators began meeting in Doha on September 12, hoping to agree on a ceasefire and a power-sharing deal.
Pakistan has been considered key in pushing the Taliban to the table for talks, and both Kabul and Washington are now urging the South Asian nation to use its influence over the insurgent group to make them agree to more concessions.
In an interview with foreign media before leaving Islamabad on Wednesday evening, Abdullah, the chief of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, said civil and military leaders he met in Pakistan had agreed that the key to peace in Afghanistan was the Taliban agreeing to a “reduction in violence, leading to a ceasefire.”
