KABUL – Conflicting and strange response from Afghanistan over Pakistan andAfghan Taliban moot in Islamabad.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry and the Afghan Presidential office haveresponded differently yet negatively to Pakistan and Afghan Taliban meetingin Islamabad.
Afghan MOFA said Friday that discussions have begun in Islamabad regardinga restart of peace talks, and, according to the ministry spokesman SibghatAhmadi, new talks between the Afghan government, the Taliban and “otherparties” (presumably the US) are likely to resume soon.
It is the second day that Taliban representatives are in Islamabad to meetwith senior Pakistani officials.
Sources close to the discussions say the Taliban representatives areplanning to remain in Islamabad for another two days and hold informalmeetings with Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Envoy for AfghanistanReconciliation.
Spokesperson Ahmadi said that since Pakistan is trying to start peacetalks, the Afghan Foreign Ministry welcomes Pakistan’s hosting of theTaliban.
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“This time we hope Pakistanis work honestly and effectively with the Afghangovernment to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table,” said Ahmadi.
On Thursday, however, the Afghan Presidential Palace stated that Pakistan’shosting of the Taliban was a serious breach of diplomatic propriety.
“Hosting a group that is still perpetrating violence is against allprinciples of national relations. These terrorists who are not committed topeace and whose only stance is war should not be welcomed like this,”President Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
