Kabul urges Samiul Haq to mediate with Taliban

Dr Omar Zakhilwal meets Darul Uloom Haqqania chief in Akora Khattak

PESHAWAR: Afghanistan government once again urged Darul Uloom Haqqania chief Maulana Samiul Haq to play a role in restoring peace in the war-torn country by bringing Taliban back to the negotiation table.

Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Islamabad Dr Omar Zakhilwal along with a delegation visited Darul Uloom Haqqania, Akora Khattak, for the fourth time in the past few days, on Tuesday where they held two meetings.

In the first meeting both lauded Afghan government’s efforts to restore peace in the country and shared Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s message.



This was followed by a meeting between Samiul Haq and Dr Omar Zakhilwal in the former’s residence.

In the delegation-level meeting, Afghan ambassador appreciated Haq’s efforts to restore peace and stability in Afghanistan and added that people of both Pakistan and Afghanistan give great importance to the Darul Uloom Haqqania.

“A peaceful Afghanistan is in the best interest of Islamabad because, without peace in Afghanistan, peace cannot be restored in Pakistan,” Haq said.

He added that the only hurdle in restoring peace and bringing back the Taliban on the negotiation table were foreign forces.

Haq also demanded that Afghanistan revisit its policies regarding Pakistan.



“Under the current circumstances hostile forces like India are taking benefit,” he remarked.

Sources in the meeting told The Express Tribune that the even in the previous meeting the Afghan authorities had urged Haq to ask the Taliban and Haqqani network to restart negotiations and get president Ghani’s message across.

The source said that Darul Uloom Haqqania chief had asked for time in the previous meetings and added that Haq has also shared the Afghan government’s demands with Taliban but they ruled out negotiations till the foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan.

Other participants of the meeting, including the Afghan officials, declined to comment.

Both the parties agreed to continue to meet in the coming month.