The first officially acknowledged peace talks between the Afghan Taliban and the Kabul government concluded on Wednesday, with an agreement to meet again after Ramzaan, Pakistan’s Foreign Office claimed.
Islamabad became the venue for direct talks between Taliban and a senior member of the Afghan government, raising hopes of a political breakthrough even as Kabul was hit by two separate suicide attacks.
Details were made public about the first known talks between the two sides, in Islamabad.
A tweet from the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that members of the officially sanctioned high peace council had gone for ‘negotiations with the Taliban’, on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman said he knew nothing about the talks.
Intelligence officials said that the two sides would break the ice over ‘iftar’, and formal talks would take place on Wednesday at an unnamed location, with Chinese diplomats invited to attend as observers, an official said.
The Pakistani intelligence official said there was a chance that US officials would also attend some of the Islamabad meetings.
The official said there were three men on the Taliban team, but refused to reveal their names. A Taliban spokesman said he had no information about the talks and was unable to comment.
Although the high peace council s meant to operate independently of the government, the four-man Afghan team included the deputy foreign minister, Hekmat Karzai, a nephew of the former president Hamid Karzai, who has been afierce critic of Ghani’s efforts to improve relations with Pakistan.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said the talks were “a major breakthrough”. During a visit to Norway, he said: “I hope there will be a positive outcome, which will certainly be very helpful for peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
