Wed 02 October 2019:
US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has arrived in Pakistan to discuss revival of the peace talks with the Pakistani leaders and a possible meeting with a Taliban delegation headed by the group’s co-founder and chief peace negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The visit comes days after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US where he met President Donald Trump and among other issues discussed the revival of negotiations to bring peace in Afghanistan.
Mr Khalilzad also met Prime Minister Khan in New York, where he was to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session, and exchanged views about renegotiating with the Taliban.
The US and the Taliban had agreed on draft peace plan, but the process was suspend by President Trump following killing of an American soldier in Kabul last month in a suicide attack claimed by the Taliban.
The United States and the U.S.-backed Afghan government have for years suspected Pakistan has maintained its support for the militants, as a tool to block the spread of Indian influence in Afghanistan, despite Pakistani denials.
The Taliban delegation would inform Pakistan’s leadership of the factors that derailed the talks with the United States aimed at striking a deal allowing U.S. and other foreign troops to withdraw in exchange for Taliban security guarantees, said a Taliban official, who declined to be identified.
U.S. and Taliban said last month they were close to reaching a deal, despite concern among some U.S. security officials and within the Afghan government that a U.S. withdrawal could plunge the country into even more conflict and open the way for a resurgence of Islamist militant factions.
President Donald Trump halted the talks with the Taliban last month, following the death of a U.S. soldier and 11 other people in a Taliban bomb attack in Kabul.
The Taliban also planned to follow up on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent comments ahead of a meeting in New York with Trump, that he would try to convince the president to re-enter talks, the Taliban official said.
It was not clear whether the Taliban delegation would meet Khan in Islamabad.
A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani could not be immediately reached.
Taliban officials have in recent days visited Russia, China and Iran.
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