News
Monday, October 03, 2011
Afghanistan seeks Pak help on Taliban talks
KABUL: The Afghan government urged Pakistan on Sunday to take concrete steps to help end Taliban insurgency and use its influence to bring the militants to direct peace talks.
The appeal follows accusations that Pakistan, through its historical ties with some of the militant groups — a charge Islamabad denies.
The allegations against Pakistan and the calls for its help reveal a central quandary in trying to end the decade of fighting that began with the US invasion on Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan has invested a great amount of goodwill and political capital to create an atmosphere of trust and confidence and to try to improve relations with Pakistan over the past three years,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told reporters in Kabul.
“Unfortunately, we have not been witness to the type of concrete progress that we were expecting — that was promised to us by our brothers and sisters in Pakistan,” he said.
In particular, Afghanistan wants its neighbour’s help in the “facilitation of direct negotiations with the Taliban leadership and with any other insurgent leaders who are prepared to join the Afghan national reconciliation process,” Mosazai said. ap
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk