Afghanistan, Pakistan Reached Deal To Revive Taliban Talks

KABUL: (Middle East Press) President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif in a meeting on the sideline of the climate change summit in Paris, agreed to discuss ways to revive peace talks with Taliban insurgents, a statement released by Pakistani Prime Minister’s office.

CVEd8mYXIAE_xYTKABUL: (Middle East Press) President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif in a meeting on the sideline of the climate change summit in Paris, agreed to discuss ways to revive peace talks with Taliban insurgents, a statement released by Pakistani Prime Minister’s office.

The two leaders have also agreed to improve relations between the neighbors that soured earlier in the year after a string of militant attacks in Kabul.

“Discussions were also held on the resumption of the peace and reconciliation process” aimed at ending the 14-year-old Afghan war, according to the statement.

“Both leaders approved to work with all those who would enter such a process as legitimate political actors and act alongside the Afghan government, [but] against those who refuse to take the path of peace,” the statement adds.

Pakistan in July hosted the first official talks between the Afghan government and representatives of Taliban insurgents, who are seeking to re-establish their hardline Islamist rule that ended with the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention.

However, a second round of talks was canceled after it was revealed that the Taliban’s founder and reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for two years.

The meeting on Monday was scheduled to be between President Ghani and PM Sharif but it later changed to a trilateral meeting to include British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Praising commitment between the two leaders for working together for common objectives, Cameron said that UK would be available with its support and assistance in anytime to promote Afghanistan’s reconciliation process.

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