ISLAMABAD: Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar was due in Pakistan Wednesdayas US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad also visited, officials said, though it wasunclear if they would meet for the first time since Donald Trump scuttledtalks between Washington and the insurgents.
Insurgent spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the Pakistan visitwould be the fourth leg of a tour that included Russia, China and Iran.
The US embassy confirmed that Khalilzad was in Islamabad “this week” forconsultations following discussions between the US and Pakistan at theUnited Nations General Assembly in New York last week.
Baradar is head of the Taliban’s political wing and usually based in Qatar,where for nearly a year the insurgents held face-to-face meetings with a USdelegation led by Khalilzad.
The two sides were on the brink of a deal that would have seen Washingtonbegin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in return for various securitypromises from the Taliban.
Trump abruptly declared the talks “dead” last month, however, citing aTaliban attack which had killed a US soldier just days earlier.
The Taliban threatened more violence, but both the insurgents and the USleft the door open for negotiations to resume — with most experts agreeingWashington will have to return to the table eventually.
The Taliban’s Doha-based spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, told AFP that thesimultaneous visits to Pakistan were a “coincidence”.
But when asked whether there was any possibility of the insurgents meetingwith Khalilzad, he replied: “Why not? It depends on the Americans.”
The Taliban are still ready to sign the agreement which Khalilzad andBaradar had hashed out in Doha, he said.
“We have not backtracked from the agreement, we stand for it. The Americanshave backtracked and they will have to take the initiative.”
Talks were the only way forward, he added.
“There is no military solution to Afghanistan. The Americans did their bestfor 18 years… but they were not able to solve this issue,” Shaheen said.
“Better to sign the agreement, and then we will have a ceasefire with theAmericans, and then intra-Afghan talks will be started immediately” todiscuss issues “including a future government and a ceasefire. So that’sthe solution to the problem,” he told AFP.
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Pakistan helped facilitate the talks and has also called for them to resume.
Pakistani media reported that the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan,General Scott Miller, was also visiting Islamabad. His spokesman declinedto confirm the report.
A senior Pakistani security official said it was possible he would alsomeet with the army chief, General Qamer Javed Bajwa.
The visits come as Afghanistan awaits the results of last weekend’spresidential election which will decide whether President Ashraf Ghani willwin a second five-year term, fending off a challenge from his top rival,Abdullah Abdullah.
Both are seeking a strong mandate to steer the war-torn country throughdarkly uncertain times and possible negotiations with the Taliban, who havelong dismissed the government in Kabul as a “puppet” of the US.
One of the aims of the US-Taliban talks was to convince the insurgents totalk to the government in hopes of achieving a durable peace agreement.
But Ghani’s administration was thoroughly sidelined in the negotiations. OnWednesday, the government spokesman Sediq Sediqqi repeated comments thatKabul must be at the center of any peace process.
“No progress will be imminent if a peace process is not owned and led bythe Afghan government,” he tweeted.
Preliminary election results are not due until October 19, and if theleading candidate doesn’t secure more than 50 percent of the vote, the toptwo will run off in a second round.
Election officials put the turnout at around 27 percent, a historic low asvoters stayed away due to the Taliban threat of attacks, a muted electioncampaign and concerns over fraud. -APP/AFP
