*WASHINGTON: Pakistan excused itself from convincing Afghan Taliban to cometo dialogues, as Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said Pakistan has nopast-like influence over them; hence, the United States and Afghanistanshould take initiative in this regard.*

Talking to journalists in Washington, Janjua said Afghan Taliban can betalked into negotiation; but, it is principally incumbent upon the Afghangovernment to set up incentives for them to come to the table ofnegotiations.

She said, “It is basically the Afghan government, i.e. the national unitygovernment, that has to decide as to what kind of incentives they can giveto the Taliban to come to the table. Then, we are there to facilitate theprocess.”

“We have repeatedly said that the Taliban should not just talk aboutPakistan as there are multiple other countries who are in direct contactwith Taliban,” she remarked.

“It is right that Taliban wrote a letter in which they voiced willingnessto talk to the United States,” she observed adding now it is between Afghangovernment and the United States as to how they want to move ahead inconnection with the Taliban demand.

Foreign Secretary said Pakistan is speedily working on border managementproject which will be completed in next some years, adding the bordermanagement will help stem the cross-border infiltration of terrorists.

Commenting on her visit to the US, she was of the view that the recentvisit is a continuation of the meetings being held in connection withPakistan-US strategic dialogues, adding the persistent meetings will helpunderstand each other’s viewpoints.