ISLAMABAD – President Asif Ali Zardari will leave for Turkey today (Monday) on a four-day official visit to discuss with Turkish leaders the US-backed Afghan reconciliation process that will involve fresh round of peace talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban on Turkish soil next month.
Islamabad and Ankara are working as main facilitators along with Saudi Arabia, UAE and other international players for the success of peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban backed by the US. Zardari’s visit to Ankara coincides with the Turkish government’s permission to the Taliban to open their office in Turkey from where they can operate politically and hold talks with various stakeholders for the settlement of the Afghan issue.
“All international players involved in the Afghanistan reconciliation process have agreed that Turkey should be the host to peace talks with the Taliban and a fresh round of talks between Karzai government and the Taliban are likely to be held on Turkish soil next month,” a Pakistani diplomat, wishing not to be named, said.
He said the Karzai-Taliban peace talks in Turkey were important in the sense that they would be broad based and apart from Muslim states like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, all major players including the US, the United Kingdom and Russia were on board for the negotiations.
He said that President Zardari would discuss the Turkish plan to host the talks, as well as Ankara’s readiness to allow the Taliban to open its office on Turkish soil.
