US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland. — Reuters photo

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has a very important role to play in the Afghan reconciliation process, says the US State Department, rejecting suggestion that the Obama administration’s new initiative to directly engage the Taliban militants has sidelined Islamabad.

The State Department also confirmed that a top US diplomat held a number of meetings in Qatar last week on the reconciliation process but stopped short of naming the Taliban as the group he had met.

“Absolutely untrue,” said the department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland when it was pointed out that many in Pakistan felt their country had been sidelined in these talks with the Taliban. “We very much want Pakistan to be part of this, as do the Afghans,” she said.

“We have at every opportunity been clear that we think that Pakistan has a very important role to play in supporting this reconciliation process.”

Ms Nuland noted the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also acknowledged Pakistan’s role in these talks. “Pakistan was part of the Istanbul process, part of the Bonn process, supporting this reconciliation effort. As we’ve said a number of times,” she said.

The State Department official noted that US Special Envoy Marc Grossman was ready to go to Pakistan during his trip to the region, which ended earlier this week. “The Pakistani government, very much involved in an internal review of its relations with the United States, thought that this was not the best time, but they welcome him at a future time.”

As the United States launched its initiative to engage the Taliban, leaders of the militant group showed interest in opening a political liaison office in Qatar to serve as a base for reconciliation talks.

Ambassador Grossman said during the weekend that an Afghan-led reconciliation process was a foundation for long-term peace.

US officials, who earlier demanded a Taliban commitment to establishing a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan, have dropped such conditions. Now they only want the militants to be committed to peace.

Ms Nuland said Washington was ‘open’ to meeting all members of the Afghan society provided they’re helpful in encouraging national reconciliation. She, however, declined to offer a “specific blow-by-blow” account of any details of Mr Grossman’s talks in Qatar.

“He did have a number of meetings in Qatar focused on national reconciliation issues,” but there was a “long way to go” on opening the liaison office in Qatar, she said.

“If Pakistan wants to be a part of this, wouldn’t you think it would have made sense for them to have given him a visa?” asked a journalist.

“We have complete understanding for the Pakistani decision,” said the US official. But the journalist insisted that Pakistan made a mistake by “snubbing” a top US diplomat directly involved in the reconciliation process.

“We don’t see it that way. We have had conversations with them about this in the past. We’re open to doing it in the future,” Ms Nuland said.

“The message that came to us from the Pakistani government was: We want to be involved in this, but right now is not the moment; we’re involved in our internal review.”

By not talking about Ambassador Grossman’s meetings in Qatar, you’re making it painfully obvious that he did have meetings with Taliban representatives,” commented another journalist.