Pakistan to host Afghan peace moot: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Wednesday said that Pakistan’s efforts had been continuing for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

In a late night message, the minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had a telephone conversation with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Fawad said that Pakistan was hosting a special conference on the issue of Afghanistan, adding that Afghan top leadership, including Karzai, had been invited to the moot. He hoped that the development would help resolve Afghan imbroglio.

Earlier a foreign media outlet reported that Pakistan is set to host prominent Afghan political leaders at a conference in a bid to speed up the intra-Afghan peace process as the US-led foreign military withdrawal from the neighboring country nears completion.

Highly placed official sources in Islamabad told a foreign media outlet on Wednesday the proposed conference is scheduled for “17 to 19 July” and several Afghan leaders have already confirmed their participation.

Afghan special presidential envoy for Pakistan Mohammed Umer Daudzai and former finance minister Omar Zakhilwal have both confirmed to VOA they will attend the meeting. However, Daudzai, said the meeting “dates are still being debated.”

Hamid Karzai, a former Afghan president, Salahuddin Rabbani, a former foreign minister, Omar Zakhilwal, a former finance minister, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a senior leader of ethnic Hazara minority community, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former warlord-turned politician, and Ahmad Wali Masoud, are among the invitees, the sources said.