Taliban Asks Pakistan To Initiate Peace Talks With TTP: Report
Taliban has asked Pakistan to restart peace talks with TTP and choose peace over war.
The Afghan Taliban has asked the government of Pakistan to launch another round of negotiations with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group. A top leader of the Afghan Taliban sitting in Kabul told Islamabad that the country should prefer peace over war, as per a media report said on Saturday, reported news agency PTI. As per the Express Tribune, Pakistan's latest efforts that are aimed at seeking action against the TTP by Kabul could not make much progress. Pakistan sent its special envoy to Kabul this week on a three-day trip with the purpose of converting a clear message that Afghanistan's Taliban-led interim government must take concrete action against the TTP which has been blamed for a number of major terror attacks in the country, reported PTI.
Ambassador Asad Durrani called upon Afghanistan’s Acting Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and other officials during his trip. However, the Afghan Taliban told him after a series of meetings that Pakistan should pursue the path of peace instead of the use of force, as per PTI. Official sources who are aware of the details of the closed-door engagements told the newspaper that the Afghan Taliban leadership was told in clear terms that Pakistan’s patience was wearing thin vis-a-vis the TTP.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch also spoke on the issue at her weekly news briefing this week and said, “The issue of terrorism...is an issue of serious concern to Pakistan. And Pakistan has raised this issue with the Afghan authorities on multiple occasions and at every important engagement that takes place between Pakistan and the Afghan interim authorities." When she was asked about whether the Ambassador took up the issue of cross-border terrorism with the Afghan authorities then she responded by saying, “We have discussed the threat of terrorism emanating from the Afghan soil.”
Despite, Pakistan's fixation on action against the TTP, the Afghan Taliban government does not wish to go down that path, as per PTI. He assured the Pakistani envoy that the Afghan Taliban government had a policy of non-interference in the internal matters of other countries. He further claimed that Afghanistan would not permit its soil to be used against any other country including Pakistan.
Pakistan abandoned the peace process talks with TTP after they stepped up the attacks and took advantage of earlier rounds of negotiations. They don't wish to indulge in any peace process talk, however, if at any stage it changes then it will only happen after the TTP surrenders.
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