ISLAMABAD / NOWSHERA:
The top diplomat of Afghanistan in Islamabad has requested an influential Pakistani cleric to give his blessing to his country’s nascent peace process with the Taliban, according to local media sources.
Afghan government officials and Taliban representatives had had a rare face-to-face meeting on July 7 in the popular tourist resort of Murree, reportedly.
They were scheduled to meet again on July 31, but the second round was called off following the confirmation of the death of Mullah Omar, the elusive Taliban supremo, sources added.
Afghan Ambassador Janan Musazai met Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of his eponymous faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania, at his residence in Akora Khattak, Nowshera on Saturday, sources further revealed.
Most senior cadres of the Afghan Taliban have studied at the Islamic seminary and a few days back Maulana Sami and several other Pakistani and Afghan Ulema had sworn allegiance to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the successor of Mullah Omar, at a function at the same seminary, authorities stated.
