According to a report, Afghan officials are holding talks with the Taliban in Pakistan, and quoting the head of Afghan Peace Council Kandahar, Ata Mohammad Ahmadi, the report manipulates it as “a possible signal that Islamabad is boosting its support for Afghan peace efforts.”
Wire agencies quote Mr Ahmadi as saying “in the last 10 days, our peace council delegation has gone to Quetta three times in twos and threes.” This was as a result of the Afghan government repeatedly urging Pakistan to support its efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
Whether or not the report that in 10 days almost three delegations of the Afghan peace council have visited Quetta is true, and the Pakistan government has yet to confirm the authenticity of this report, the bottom line is that such a report has ‘intriguingly’ established that the Afghan Taliban are very much in Pakistan and the so-called Quetta Shura does exist.
Will it help the Afghan peace process move forward, or further implicate Pakistan in the case of providing safe havens to the Taliban. If it is true, then obviously the people at the helm of affairs or either unaware of its implications or they are ignorant of the fact that the world is waiting to turn the accusations into an established proof.
ESCHMALL SARDAR
Peshawar
