Afghan president thanks Pakistani PM for hosting first official Kabul-Taliban

Government representatives struck a positive note after returning from their first face-to-face talks with militant commanders held on Tuesday in Pakistan aimed at ending the Taliban’s 13-year insurgency.

Although the Afghan government team was convinced it was talking to an official Taliban delegation, there is some uncertainty as to whether this is true.

He claimed that the Afghan fighters focused mainly on the foreign forces they describe as “invaders”, for toppling their regime in 2001 – though it has also regularly targeted civilians and Afghan security forces in the past.

“There were no pre-conditions for the talks”, he told reporters in Kabul.

The Pakistan and the Afghan government statements did not mention any of the participants by name.

The Taliban also demanded an end to the United Nations blacklist. Masood says the Pakistani public have become increasingly supportive of the army, moreso than in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s annual summer offensive is in full swing, with twin suicide attacks in Kabul on Tuesday, one targeting a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation convoy and one an Afghan intelligence office, highlighting the precarious security situation.

The strike comes after President Obama officially ended the US combat mission in Afghanistan in December, and ahead of a planned troop drawdown from the country by next year.

“We see it as the wrong direction toward peace, and the Pakistani-led process may cause more problems instead of solutions”, he wrote in an email exchange with New York Times.

“Some significant successes in ongoing military operation in [Pakistani] tribal areas have left the talks argument behind”. This insurgent group, mostly based in the Waziristan region in western Pakistan, is allied to the Taliban.

Taliban media called talks a Pakistani ploy to deceive Kabul.

President Ashraf Ghani appreciated Pakistan’s efforts and its role in facilitating peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, expressing hope that these efforts would lead to lasting peace and stability in the country. “The meeting shows that Pakistan is genuinely interested in an Afghan peace deal”, he said.

Islamabad, Jul 9: A senior leader of Islamic State (IS) militant group and ex- Pakistani Taliban spokesman was among 24 terrorists killed today in a USA drone attack in Afghanistan along its border with Pakistan. FO Spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said he had no information about the talks when contacted.

They said earlier the Taliban had urged for a unilateral ceasefire on part of the Afghan government.