KABUL: The Afghan and Pakistani governments are seeking peace talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia separate from US-brokered talks with the insurgents in Qatar, officials said Sunday.
The Taliban, ousted from power by a US-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, announced earlier this month that they planned to set up a political office in Qatar ahead of talks with Washington.
Taliban negotiators have begun holding preliminary talks with US officials in the Gulf state on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the decade-long war in Afghanistan, a former Taliban official said Sunday.
But Afghan and Taliban officials indicated in response to a BBC report about plans for talks in Saudi Arabia that both Kabul and Islamabad were looking for their own talks with the insurgents.
Asked for his response to the BBC report, Afghan foreign ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said: “Of course we support any steps towards the Afghan peace process.” He refused to comment further.
But a senior Afghan government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: “We will always pursue all roads towards peace in Afghanistan, including contacts with the Taliban that are not limited to the Qatar office.”He acknowledged the accuracy of the BBC report but said he did not know of any timetable for the talks in Saudi Arabia to begin.
A member of the Taliban's leadership council, the Pakistan-based Quetta Shura, also backed the report of talks in Saudi Arabia.
“The idea that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Saudi is pushed by the Pakistan and Afghan governments,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“This is because they think they have been sidelined. They want some control over peace talks.”Supporting this theory, Kabul announced Sunday that Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would visit Kabul on Wednesday.
Mosazai told a news conference the visit would mark a “new phase” in cooperation between the two countries, adding that Khar would hold talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Zulmai Rasoul and President Hamid Karzai.
“Both sides will discuss the fight against terrorism and Pakistan's essential support to the peace process in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan plays a key role in the Afghan peace process and Afghanistan need a sincere effort of our neighbouring country toward peace negotiations,”Mosazai said.
Khar's visit comes after Pakistan made overtures to Afghanistan to resume talks about the Taliban which broke down following the assassination of Kabul's chief peace envoy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in September, officials said.
Karzai accused Pakistan of responsibility for the murder and last month said Islamabad was sabotaging all attempts at negotiations with the Taliban.
The president's initial wariness over being sidelined in the Qatar talks led Washington to dispatch special envoy Marc Grossman to Kabul last week to assure him of a central role for his government in any major negotiations.
And in another effort to soothe Karzai's doubts, a delegation from the Qatar government is expected to visit Kabul to explain its role in the talks, High Peace Council secretary Aminundin Muzaffari told AFP.
“We are expecting a delegation from Qatar to come to Kabul to discuss with us the role of Afghans in peace talks and when and how peace talks in Qatar should happen and proceed.
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