WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi exchanged views on Tuesday as America’s special envoy for Afghanistan was due in Islamabad for talks aimed at pushing forward the Afghan peace process.

“Both leaders agreed to continue to pursue the Afghan reconciliation process,” said a statement issued in Islamabad after the telephone call.

“They discussed Pakistan’s facilitating role and agreed that the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad’s forthcoming visit to Islamabad would provide an opportunity to further build on the gains made so far,” the statement added.

“Foreign Minister Qureshi reiterated that intra-Afghan dialogue was an important component of the reconciliation process.”

After months of extensive talks in Doha, Qatar, Mr Khalilzad announced recently that the talks had focused on four key points: “counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a comprehensive ceasefire”. While there was an understanding on the first two points, the Taliban were refusing to hold talks with the Afghan government and appeared reluctant to enforce a comprehensive ceasefire.

Mr Khalilzad, who is also the chief US negotiator in talks with the Taliban, arrived in Kabul this week and is now scheduled to visit Islamabad after a series of meetings in the Afghan capital with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior leaders and politicians.

In tweets released after his latest talks in Kabul, Mr Khalilzad indicated that he was now focusing on making the talks a truly intra-Afghan dialogue and that the talks must include the Afghan government.

By Tuesday efforts were apparently focused on forming a larger team of influential Afghan politicians and tribal elders that should include representatives of the Afghan government. Diplomatic observers in Washington believe that Islamabad could play a key role in persuading the Taliban to meet a team that includes Afghan government representatives.

So far, only Islamabad has issued a readout of the Pompeo-Qureshi conversation but diplomats in Washington pointed that the Pakistani version was acceptable to the US side.

They noted that the Americans issue their own readouts when they disagree with the points raised in the other side’s statement.

They also put out their own version if they differ with the points “emphasised by the other side”, one diplomatic observer said.

The statement issued in Islamabad also said that Mr Qureshi urged the United States to play its role in the resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2019