Qatar dialogue: Pakistan urges Afghan Taliban to pursue talks

Foreign secretary says Islamabad supports any formal or informal dialogue that leads to reconciliation in Afghanistan

Pakistan on Sunday threw its weight behind the informal talks between the Afghan Taliban and representatives of the Kabul-backed negotiators in Qatar and urged the ultraorthodox militia to engage with the Afghan administration for restoring peace to the war-torn country.

“Our message to the Taliban is very clear: they have to talk. If they talk, we will be able to contribute to peace in Afghanistan – this is the best thing that can happen to us, and to the whole region,” Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad. His comments came as the Afghan Taliban and members of the Afghan High Peace Council wrapped up their two-day face-to-face talks in Qatar on Sunday.



“We support any formal or informal dialogue that leads to reconciliation in Afghanistan,” Chaudhry said when asked about Pakistan’s response to the Qatar conference. “Pakistan backs every gathering aimed at achieving the goal of peace in Afghanistan,” he reiterated. The Qatar meeting was organised by Pugwash, a Canada-based group that claims to promote dialogue.

A Taliban source told The Express Tribune by telephone from the Qatari capital that the head of the eight-member Taliban delegation, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, read out a written statement at the conference that could also be released to the media.

The Taliban spokesman, however, clarified that the group’s participation in the Qatar conference “should not be misconstrued as peace  negotiations or talks”.

A 20-member delegation from Afghanistan, including members of the High Peace Council, attended the conference which is significant given the Taliban’s refusal to join the intra-Afghan dialogue. The High Peace Council members included its spokesman Maulvi Shehzada Shahid and a senior member Attaullah Ludin.

A two-member team of Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan of Gulbudin Hekmatyar, the second largest resistance group after the Taliban, was also part of the Qatar talks.



It was the third time the Taliban sat with representatives of the Afghan government in a conference. Members of the Taliban Political Council had earlier attended similar meetings in France and Japan but they did not hold direct talks with Afghan government officials.

Asked about any progress on Pakistan’s peace efforts in Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary Chaudhry said: “We do not want to make comments in public but the people involved in the process are working hard and with responsibility.”

“The important thing is peace and security in Afghanistan that will have a positive impact on everyone. There is a need to push the reconciliation process between the Taliban and the Afghan administration,” Chaudhry said.

Qatar’s official news agency has described the meeting as ‘reconciliation’ talks. “The dialogue will be through open discussions about the Afghan reconciliation between all parties in Afghanistan,” it added.

Pakistani security analysts believe Pakistan might have played a role in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table. “There could be possibility of Pakistan’s pressure on the Taliban but the talks will produce results if the Taliban willingly join the negotiations,” Pakistan’s former ambassador to Kabul Rustam Shah Mohmand told The Express Tribune.

 “The Taliban are demanding complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan before talks but the Afghan president insisted on a longer stay of US forces during his recent visit to the US. So, there are many hurdles,” he said adding that he didn’t expect something major in the Qatar dialogue. “If the process goes forward, then Pakistan’s role should be appreciated.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2015.