*ISLAMABAD:* Afghan Taliban have reacted over the latest peace conference being held in Uzbekistan.
Taliban have not been invited to an upcoming peace conference in Uzbekistan that will mainly focus on the prospects for reconciliation in Afghanistan, two Taliban officials said earlier in the week.
The conference titled ”Peace Process and Cooperation in the field of Security and Regional Cohesion’ is scheduled to be held in Tashkent on March 26-27. Representatives from all regional countries, including Pakistan, as well as the United States will attend the conference.
As there is no let up in Afghan war and Daesh is posing a serious threat to Afghanistan’s neighbours, Uzbekistan has also stepped up efforts to help in the reconciliation process.
All regional countries are now on same page to press for a political solution as the military option is increasingly being looked at as having failed in defeating the Taliban, besides the emergence of Daesh has further aggravated the situation in Afghanistan and the region.
A Taliban spokesman and a political representative said they have not received any invitation for the Tashkent moot.
“We have not been invited,” the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Daily Times in response to a query posted on his WhatsApp. Taliban’s relations with Uzbekistan have been tense because of its support to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, according to Taliban leader, who served during the Taliban rule in 1996-2001.