Steps being taken to initiate talks with Taliban chief Mullah Omar : PML-Q

Lahore, Aug.22 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain has said steps are being taken to initiate talks with the Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

In an interview to a private television channel, Husain said he had talks with an Afghan 'intellectual' last week, who told him that he wanted to convene a grand Afghan 'jirga' (meeting) to start negotiations with all factions of the Taliban.

Husain claimed that that the Saudi, German and Norwegian leaderships were also making efforts to form the 'jirga.'

He said United States was also expected to hold talks with Omar.

Meanwhile, political analyst, Hassan Askari Rizvi, has said that Washington wants the Taliban to recognize its power and realize that the US has the ability to destroy them in Afghanistan.

"The US believes that a potential dialogue process could be advanced if the Taliban became aware of the US deterrence capability against the Taliban," the Daily Times quoted Rizvi, as saying.

Rizvi, however, said the Obama administration would not talk to the Taliban directly, instead would ask Hamid Karzai to initiate a dialogue with the banned outfit. (ANI)