Afghan council to meet Baradar in Pakistan

Govt has agreed to give Afghan council access to the Taliban leader.

ISLAMABAD:

After weeks of mystery surrounding Taliban senior leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Afghan officials now say Pakistan has agreed to allow their government-backed council to meet him in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the trilateral summit held in London on Tuesday agreed to a demand by President Hamid Karzai to give them direct access to the Taliban leader, Karzai’s Palace said in Kabul on Wednesday.

Nawaz Sharif’s consent to allow Afghan delegation to meet Mullah Baradar came a day after he asked the Afghan Taliban to initiate direct talks with peace council aimed at ending the years-old war in the neighbouring country.

“We want the Taliban to become part of the peace process in Afghanistan. We want them to talk to the High Peace Council,” Nawaz Sharif told a group of Pakistani journalists in London ahead of the trilateral summit. This is the second time a Pakistani leader has made a public appeal to the Afghan Taliban, who have so far refused to talk to the Karzai government.

At the trilateral summit hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Britain had agreed on joint peace efforts in war-shattered country and economic development of the volatile region.

“The leaders of the three countries discussed Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan’s peace process and agreed that a delegation of the Afghan High Peace Council will soon visit Pakistan to meet Mullah Baradar,” a statement from the Afghan Presidential Palace said.

Special adviser to the Prime Minister, Tariq Fatemi on Wednesday said Afghan delegation could meet Baradar as he was a free man and could meet anyone he wanted.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2013.