Taliban delegation meets Pak PM Imran Khan, discusses stalled Afghan peace process

Islamabad, Oct 4: A high-level Taliban delegation on Friday met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss the stalled peace process in Afghanistan. The 12-member delegation of Taliban Political Commission (TPC), which arrived here on Wednesday for their first such visit, was lead by its head Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar during the meeting.

"The delegation called on Prime Minister Khan and discussed bilateral and regional situation, especially the peace process in Afghanistan," a government official told PTI. Khan stressed the need for peace in Afghanistan which he termed as a key to peace and stability in the region.

Khan also assured that Islamabad would continue its efforts for peace in Afghanistan, the Geo News reported. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was also present in the meeting, the BBC reported. The meeting comes a day after the delegation met country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who urged the Taliban to grasp the opportunity and resume talks with the US for an early and peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Qureshi noted that the existing, broad regional and international consensus for achieving peace in Afghanistan at the earliest provided an unprecedented opportunity that must not be lost. 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.

Trump stunned the world when he suddenly declared that the Afghan peace talks with the Taliban were "dead". He cancelled a secret meeting with the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at Camp David near Washington after the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Kabul, in which an American soldier was among the dead.