Islamabad: Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, said today that his government wants to bring the Afghan Taliban back to the negotiations with the government. Pakistan had hosted the first ever face-to-face discussions between the representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban on July 7 in 14 years.
The second round was scheduled to be held on July 31st; however, they were postponed after the Taliban officially confirmed the death of their supreme leader Mullah Omar. Afghan government had earlier disclosed that Mullah Omar had died in 2013; but the Taliban had kept the news secret.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif admitted that the news of Omar’s death led to the postponement of the rare Afghan peace talks. “We had done a lot to encourage the Taliban leaders to open talks at the request by the Afghan government. But the death of Mullah Omar was made public. There was no need to break the news as the second round of the talks were scheduled to be held two days the Omar death’s was revealed,” Mr Sharif said. “This had a negative impact on the peace process,” Mr Sharif insisted at a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.
Pakistani officials say that an eight-member team of the Taliban central council had arrived in Islamabad for the second round and that a progress to reduce violence in Afghanistan was expected in the talks. "This is still a question as to why and who made the disclosure of the death of the Taliban leader," the Pakistani Prime Minister asked.
He said that the Afghan government wanted the talks should not be kept secret; however, the Taliban were not agreed with this proposal but Pakistan encouraged them to start negotiations. President Ashraf Ghani later put a stop on the Pakistan-brokered talks in the wake of a series of attacks in August and had announced his government not seek Pakistan role in the talks.
The Taliban new chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, in his message on the Muslim festival of "Eid" last month said the group will not hold talks unless foreign troops are completely withdrawn.