ISLAMABAD - Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Thursday said that Pak-US ties had reached an important point as Islamabad aimed to reset the relationship with Washington.
Speaking to journalists here before leaving for Germany, the Foreign Minister said the US had started acknowledging Pakistan’s role to ensure peace in Afghanistan.
“We are at a very important point. We are making efforts to reset the relations with the US. Pakistan’s role vis-a-vis peace in Afghanistan is now being appreciated,” he said.
The minister said he was leaving for Germany to attend Munich conference on Afghan issue, adding he will hold meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other world leaders to bring peace in the war-torn country.
“There have been statements by the Afghan President in the recent past. We will discuss all that. We want to ensure peace in Afghanistan and the region,” he said.
The minister said he will present Pakistan’s stance on Afghanistan in the conference. The Munich moot will be attended by Defence and Foreign Ministers and security experts from across the world.
“I will present Pakistan’s point of view on different issues of regional peace and security in the conference,” he said. Qureshi said during his stay in Germany, he will meet his counterparts of various countries, including Russia, Germany, Uzbekistan and Canada and will also interact with key US congressmen and members of the Senate.
Qureshi-Ghani meeting comes Afghan Taliban will be visiting Islamabad next week to hold another round of negotiations with the US officials. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said they were coming to Islamabad on the “formal invitation” of the government of Pakistan.
The meeting will take place on February 18. The Taliban team will also meet Prime Minister Imran Khan “to hold comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen.”
Prime Minister Khan has publicly taken credit for facilitating the peace talks and assured the nation that Pakistan “will do everything within its power” to further the Afghan peace process.
The PM recently said: “Pakistan has helped in the dialogue between Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi. Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people.”
A US team led by US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad has been negotiating with the Taliban representative to put an end to the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.
Last week, Zalmay Khalilzad said Pakistan’s role was ‘very crucial’ to peace in Afghanistan.
Speaking at the US Institute for Peace, Khalilzad - who visited Pakistan more than once in the recent weeks - said the US was happy with what Pakistan had done so far.
“We always would like Pakistan, like other countries to do more, but we appreciate what they have done so far and I have indicated and Secretary (of State), (Mike) Pompeo and the president (Donald Trump) that we want to have good relations with Pakistan, better relations with Pakistan,” he said.
Recently, Pakistan arranged ‘result-oriented’ US-Afghan Taliban dialogue in Qatar. The Afghan Taliban however, refused to meet the representatives of the Afghan government.
Pakistan and the US are also hoping to finalize the settlement of the Afghanistan issue when their top leaders, Imran Khan and Donald Trump, possibly meet in the near future.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan seeking Islamabad’s support in securing a “negotiated settlement” to the war in Afghanistan.
This came as Washington stepped up efforts to hold peace talks with the Taliban, more than 17 years after the invasion of Afghanistan. In his letter, Trump said a settlement is “his most important regional priority”, the Pakistani foreign ministry stated. “In this regard, he has sought Pakistan’s support and facilitation”, it added.
In December, Zalmay Khalilzad had briefed Foreign Minister Qureshi about the US President’s letter written to Prime Minister Imran Khan for getting Pakistan’s cooperation regarding Afghan reconciliation process. Khalilzad had also visited Pakistan in October in his current capacity.
Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s special peace envoy Mohammed Omer Daudzai said the war that had ravaged Afghanistan for more than 17 years and cost the US about $1 trillion will end this year.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been pressing the Taliban to engage Afghan government in the talks.
Daudzai said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘heart and mind is in the right place. We are hopeful. We have received all the right signals.’
In the recent days however, Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in a new verbal war as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a controversial statement on Pakistan’s internal matters. In response, Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s leadership to pay attention to the issues of their own country rather than making statements against others.