'Pakistan jump-starting US, Taliban peace talks'

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan on Thursday said that it and Qatar have helped to resume stall peace talks between the U.S. and the Afghan Taliban, an official said.

"Pakistan, as a part of the shared responsibility, is facilitating the ongoing round of talks between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha. Negotiations are between the two parties, for which Pakistan and Qatar are providing the necessary support and facilitating the talks while Pakistan is also present in Qatar," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told reporters in Islamabad, the capital.

Pakistan has repeatedly said that a political solution through dialogue should be the way forward, he added.

Last week, U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad had an extended visit to Islamabad to break the deadlock in the Afghan peace process.

During his visit, Pakistan assured him that they could convince the Taliban to break the stalemate, but the Afghan Taliban is reluctant to meet with U.S. officials to avoid being pressured into accepting the Afghan government in the peace process.

But on Monday, the Afghan Taliban announced that stalled talks between the sides had resumed in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

In December, Pakistan confirmed it had arranged rare direct talks between Washington and the Taliban paving the way for a negotiated settlement of the conflict that has entered its 18th year.

Pakistan facilitated the landmark first direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Islamabad in 2015, but the process broke down after Taliban announced the death of their long-term leader Mullah Omer, triggering a bitter power struggle within the militia.

Chances for resumption of the stalled process went further dim following the death of Omer’s successor in a U.S. drone strike in 2016.

Since then, several attempts to resume the stalled peace process have been made by a four-nation group made up of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the U.S. and China.

Until now, however, these attempts have failed to bear fruit except for a few rounds of direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban.