Taliban-Afghan govt direct talks soon: Qureshi

Nadeem ShahBy

MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday Pakistan was making efforts for peace talks between Afghan Taliban and the Kabul government, which would resume soon. Talking to the media at the groundbreaking ceremony of development projects in his constituency NA-156, he said: “The resumption of peace talks is not a matter of months. Soon the two sides will resume dialogue.” He said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had expressed reservations over direct talks between Taliban and the Afghan government. However, Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed his reservations and took him into confidence over the process. The Afghan Taliban groups have shown willingness in joining direct peace talks with the Kabul government, he said. Some forces wanted to sabotage the peace talks between Taliban and the Kabul government. Pakistan would soon expose forces involved in sabotaging the process in Afghanistan. “Pakistan only wants peace in Afghanistan,” he added.

The foreign minister paid rich tribute to 10 soldiers martyred in North Waziristan and Balochistan and said peace had been prevailing in the country due to sacrifices of such soldiers. He said Pakistan Army is the best in the world. Qureshi said Pakistan and the US relations had taken a new dimension after the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The whole world has now acknowledged that only dialogue process is a solution to Afghan and other regional problems. The whole world earlier blamed Pakistan for the Afghan problem, but now the stance of Premier Imran Khan had convinced the world leaders to resolve the issue through dialogue. He said that not only the US but Russia, China and European countries are supporting Pakistan stance now. The PTI leader said he was making his best efforts to come up to expectations of voters of his constituency. He said he had brought four mega projects to his constituency worth Rs1.41 billion.