Pakistan has made overtures to Afghanistan to resume talks with Taliban which broke down following the assassination of Kabul’s chief peace envoy, an official said on Sunday. “After Pakistan expressed readiness, the Afghan government has also agreed to resume the talks with Pakistan over the Taliban,” Esmael Qasimyar, a senior member of the Afghan government-appointed High Peace Council, told AFP.
Karzai accused Pakistan of responsibility for the murder of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani in September and last month the Afghan president said Pakistan was sabotaging all negotiations with the Taliban. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Pakistan had recently sent a message through the Afghan ambassador to Islamabad saying that “Pakistan is willing to resume contacts and talks with Afghanistan”. He said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani was also planning to visit Afghanistan, but no dates had been set.