In an interview on Wedneday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Sartaj Aziz said that while Pakistan had some influence on the Taliban, it had no control over them, and stated that it was the Afghan government that had a bigger role to play.
Stating that both Pakistan and the USA wanted peace talks to continue, he said that the Afghan government should step up to broker peace talks with the Taliban. Following the first round of talks held in Murree in July, 2015, he said, the Afghan government had not contacted Pakistan regarding the maintenance of contact with the Afghanistan. The second round of the talks had been postponed due to the announcement of Mullah Omer’s death.
While President Ghani has blamed Pakistan for failing to cleanse militants from its soil, who he claim are the ones behind the attacks in Kabul, though Sartaj denied these claims, and said that Pakistan very strongly condemned the attack. He also emphasized that Pakistan would not allow her soil to be used against any country – a stance on which he said the Pakistan government was very clear.
