Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the collective efforts have so far succeeded in advancing Afghan peace process.
“Our collective efforts have so far succeeded in advancing Afghan peace process to current unprecedented point,” he said in a Twitter post.
Qureshi further added “All stakeholders must ensure residual issues resolved to commence Intra-Afghan negotiations w/out delay. The imp of seizing this historic opp cannot be stressed enough.”
This comes as efforts are underway to launch intra-Afghan peace talks in a bid to end the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani recently signed a decree to release 400 Taliban prisoners after the Grand Assembly of Tribal Elders (Loya Jirga) voted to release the inmates who are considered as hardcore-militants.
Meanwhile, some obstacles apparently on the way to launch intra-Afghan talks with the the Taliban group on Sunday warning that the Afghan government is ‘still trying to create hurdles for the peace process and seeks to arouse global emotions through propaganda.’
The group issued a statement reaction to recent a statement of an Afghan official who allegedly said “‘intra-Afghan’ term ascribed to the negotiation process was incorrect and that talks were going to be held between the Kabul administration and Taliban along with other such remarks. ‘intra-Afghan’ term ascribed to the negotiation process was incorrect and that talks were going to be held between the Kabul administration and Taliban along with other such remarks.
Emphasizing that Taliban does not recognize Kabul Administration as a government, the group said “We only accept and have made preparations for negotiations that were described in the historic Doha agreement and those are intra-Afghan negotiations that cover all parties to the Afghan conflict.”
