Khalilzad discusses Afghan peace in Pakistan after pause in Taliban talks

ISLAMABAD/KABUL: The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on Friday, hours after he put a pause on recently resumed peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
Negotiations with Taliban representatives resumed last week, after a nearly three-month suspension.
Prior to his arrival in Pakistan, Khalilzad said negotiations with the Taliban were halted due to a Wednesday attack on the Bagram military air base north of Kabul that lasted more than 10 hours and forced the US military to use a jet fighter and helicopter gunships against Taliban fighters.
At least two Afghan civilians were killed and over 80 others, including five Georgian soldiers, were wounded in the fighting.
“When I met the Talibs today, I expressed outrage about yesterday’s attack on Bagram, which recklessly killed two and wounded dozens of civilians. #Taliban must show they are willing & able to respond to Afghan desire for peace,” Khalilzad said in a Twitter post.
“We’re taking a brief pause for them to consult their leadership on this essential topic,” the US envoy tweeted.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s chief spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said the government stance vis-a-vis the talks was the same as what the Afghan president and Trump discussed during the latter’s recent visit to Bagram.
“Our position has been very clear. The Taliban must cease violence,” he told Arab News when asked to comment on the announcement of another pause in the talks.
There has been no pledge from the Taliban side or Afghan and US-led troops to halt attacks, neither when the talks were held in the past, nor during last week’s discussions.
Meanwhile, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the peace talks between their leader Mullah Baradar and Khalilzad-led negotiators were “cordial.”
“The atmosphere of the talks was cordial and positive and both sides agreed to resume talks after taking a break for few days,” Sheheen tweeted in Pashto late on Thursday.
In September, US President Donald Trump had called off the talks in Qatar, following a Taliban-claimed suicide attack in Kabul, which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
Qureshi expressed his concern about the new pause and, according to the Foreign Office, hoped the US-Taliban talks will resume soon.
“Pakistan has been saying since long that use of force is not a solution to the Afghan problem,” Qureshi told Khalilzad, as quoted in a statement issued by his office.
The Pakistani foreign minister said peace in Afghanistan is linked to regional peace and stability.
Khalilzad briefed the Pakistani side of his talks with the Taliban in Qatar this week.
“The US special envoy praised the role of Pakistan for peace in Afghanistan,” the statement said.
Two Taliban spokesman did not respond to queries about Khalilzad’s anger at the Bagram air base attack. However, the Taliban defended the attack on what they referred to as the “largest American base” in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed earlier that “tens of foreign invaders and their hirelings had been killed and wounded” with heavy damage to barracks and other buildings at the base.
On Thursday, Pakistan warned against “the role of spoilers” trying to derail the Afghan peace process.
“We will continue to support all peaceful efforts in this regard, as we have done in the past. However, at this critical time, it is important to remain watchful of the role of spoilers who do not wish to see an end to the Afghan conflict,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said during his weekly briefing.
Taliban and American officials developed differences over Khalilzad’s call for a reduction in violence that would lead to a cease-fire and intra-Afghan dialogue, US and Taliban officials told Arab News this week.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Monday that a cease-fire with the US and its NATO allies would be declared after the signing of a peace agreement.
“Everything, cease-fire, with all of the foreign troops, and an intra-Afghan dialogue are mentioned in the deal,” he said when asked about repeated calls from the US for a reduction in violence as a condition for the agreement.
Speaking to Arab News from Qatar, Shaheen said that both the Taliban and Washington have already initiated the deal and were discussing the date of its signing and other details.