Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is seen before an agreement is signed between members of the Taliban delegation in Afghanistan and US officials in Doha, Qatar, on February 29, 2020. REUTERS / Ibraheem al Omari / Photo File
On Monday, Pakistan urged the Taliban to remain committed to the Afghan peace process after the armed group said it would now shy away from the summits on Afghanistan until all foreign forces march.
The decision was made after the United States said last week that it would withdraw all troops on September 11 this year, later than the deadline set on May 1 by the previous administration.
“They make their own decisions, but we will do our best to convince them that it is in their national interest to remain committed,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said about the Taliban in an interview with Reuters in Abu Dhabi.
The refusal has disrupted the peace process with Turkey scheduled for Saturday to host a summit that diplomats hoped could create a new impetus towards a political deal between the Taliban and Afghan governments.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were expelled by U.S.-led forces, but still control large areas.
Qureshi said delays in withdrawal were always a possibility due to logistics, but that the Taliban had largely achieved their goal of withdrawing foreign troops and therefore should show flexibility towards the new. deadline of September 11th.
“The troops will be out and a date has been given and the process starts on May 1 and lasts until September 11, so there is a definite deadline,” Qureshi said.
Sources told Reuters that Pakistan was pressuring militants to return to the table.
Qureshi said he believed the Taliban would benefit from staying involved, but said he had no contact with the group.
Pakistan, which helped facilitate negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban in Doha, which led to the initial May 1 withdrawal agreement, has considerable influence over the Taliban.
Insurgents have shrines in Pakistan, the main military-run intelligence service supports them, according to US and Afghan officials. Pakistan denies the allegation.
Qureshi said he feared violence could escalate if the peace process remains at a standstill, plunging Afghanistan into civil war and causing an exodus of Afghans.
Pakistan, home to nearly 3 million Afghan refugees and economic migrants, has built 90% of a fence along the disputed 2,500 km (1,500 miles) border with Afghanistan and is expected to be completed by September. he said.
He also said Pakistan was ready to engage in direct dialogue with arch-rival India once the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which New Delhi in 2019 divided into territories, was restored.
“We are two atomic powers that cannot and should not enter into direct conflict. It would be suicidal,” Qureshi said.
But he said he had no plans to meet with his Indian counterpart who is also in the UAE this week.
Top intelligence officials in India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tensions over the disputed Kashmir region of the Himalayas, sources told Reuters
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