A senior Afghan official arrived in the Pakistani capital on Monday on a three-day visit to hold talks with the Taliban, during which he will meet with the country's prime minister and other government officials.
Senior government officials on his arrival
in Islamabad received Abdullah, the leader of Afghan Reconciliation for
National Reconciliation. In addition to meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan,
the Afghan reconciliation leader will also meet with President Arif Ali,
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other officials.
The council represents the Afghan
government in the historic peace talks with the Taliban, which begin in Qatar on
September 12. The talks represent the most serious effort since the 2001 US-led
invasion of Afghanistan. The government, which was then hosting al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden, had planned the September 11 attacks.
The Afghan-Taliban talks came after an
agreement was reached’ between the US and the Taliban in February. It aims to
allow the Americans to withdraw from Afghanistan and end the longest military
engagement in US history.
Many Taliban leaders have lived in
Pakistan since the 1980s. In those years, he was part of the Afghan Mujahideen,
an ally of the American Mujahideen, to end the 10-year occupation of the
country by the Soviet Union.
The Taliban have refused to sanctify
Taliban members since their ouster in 2001. However, both Washington and Kabul
routinely accuse Islamabad of providing a safe haven for the Taliban, citing
its longstanding ties to Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence
Agency.
Khan has publicly said that his government
has facilitated talks. "Now it's up to Afghans," he said.
"Abdullah's visit will provide an
opportunity for a broader exchange of views on the Afghan peace process and
Pak-Afghan bilateral relations and people-to-people contacts," the
Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. "For the peace, stability
and prosperity of the Afghan people."
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