28-03-2024 10:33 PM Jerusalem Timing

Pakistani, Afghan Leaders Discuss Resuming Taliban Talks

Pakistani, Afghan Leaders Discuss Resuming Taliban Talks

The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan met Monday and discussed the resumption of peace talks between the Kabul administration and the Taliban.

The leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan met Monday and discussed the resumption of peace talks between the Kabul administration and the Taliban.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of a United Nations climate conference in Paris. Sharif offered to support an Afghan-led peace process, according to a statement from his office, a process from which Afghanistan had distanced itself as a result of an upsurge in violence in the country over the summer.Afghan and Pakistan leader

“Both leaders agreed to work with all those who would enter such a process as legitimate political actors and act, alongside the Afghan government, against those who refuse to take the path of peace,” said the statement from Mr. Sharif’s office.

There was no immediate response from the Afghan side. On Sunday, a senior Afghan official said that in Paris, the two leaders would discuss “Pakistan’s essential support to our peace efforts in Afghanistan.”

The Taliban leadership is based in Pakistan and Pakistan’s military has long been accused of backing the insurgents as a proxy for its interests in Afghanistan, a charge it denies.

A meeting in July arranged by Pakistan in the country’s hill resort of Murree was the forum for the first formal talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban after years of war. Chinese and US diplomats attended.