ISLAMABAD – US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is on a two-day visit toPakistan to brief the country’s leaders about his latest negotiations withthe Afghan Taliban.

“We will go to any extent for Afghan peace,” Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi said at a meeting with the U.S. envoy, according to a Pakistaniofficial.

The country’s state-run media said Khalilzad praised Islamabad’s role infacilitating the peace process, Radio Free Europe has reported.

Khalilzad last week resumed talks with Taliban negotiators in the Qataricapital, Doha, where the insurgents maintain a political office.

The talks were the first direct contact between the sides since U.S.President Donald Trump three months ago halted negotiations to end the18-year war in Afghanistan.

But Khalilzad said the negotiations were taking a “brief pause” after theTaliban on December 11 staged an attack on the main U.S. military base inAfghanistan.

Taliban fighters struck near the Bagram Airfield, killing at least twoAfghan civilians and wounding more than 70 other people, including fiveGeorgian soldiers.

“When I met the Talibs today, I expressed outrage about yesterday’s attackon Bagram…Taliban must show they are willing & able to respond to Afghandesire for peace,” the Afghan-born U.S. diplomat *tweetedlink* overnight.

Therefore, Khalilzad *saidlink*, “We’retaking a brief pause for them to consult their leadership on this essentialtopic.”

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, SuhailShaheen, described the latest negotiations as “positive and good.”

Khalilzad is trying to lay the groundwork for negotiations between Afghanson both sides of the conflict, with the Taliban refusing to talk directlywith the Western-backed government in Kabul.

The restart of talks in Doha followed Trump’s surprise Thanksgiving visitto see U.S. troops in Afghanistan on November 28, when he voiced hope that”the Taliban wants to make a deal and we are meeting with them.”