Chances of peace talks with Taliban remote; US hopes Pakistan will help resuscitate the talks
Chances of peace talks with Taliban remote; US hopes Pakistan will help resuscitate the talks
A conference aimed at shoring up support for war-ravaged Afghanistan opened in the Pakistani capital on Tuesday, with a top Afghan official calling for an urgent, united response to the global menace of militancy.
The “Heart of Asia” meeting, an annual gathering of Asian and other countries, comes months after the first, inconclusive talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. “The wave of terrorist activities, including those of Daesh in various parts of the region and the world, once again reminds us of the gravity of this menace confronting today’s humanity and the urgency for a united position against this evil phenomenon,” Afghan deputy foreign minister Hikmat Khalil Karzai told the conference.
The ISIS militant group is also known as Daesh. The two-day meeting will focus on energy, infrastructure and investment deals to shore up commitment to Afghanistan but the threat of an intensifying Taliban insurgency will hang over proceedings. The Afghan Taliban and the government held inaugural talks in Pakistan in July, but the effort to end the 14-year insurgency stalled when after news leaked that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had been dead for two years.
News of Omar’s death triggered a violent split in the Taliban, further undermining hopes for the negotiations. Last week, the new leader of the main Afghan Taliban faction, Omar’s deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was reported killed or wounded by rivals. A weekend audio message claiming to be from Mansour refuted the reports, but some Taliban have questioned its authenticity.
The United States hopes Pakistan will help resuscitate the talks, a senior US official said. “Pakistan has real influence with the Afghan Taliban, and our hope is that it will use that influence to encourage the Taliban to engage in the reconciliation process,” US deputy secretary of state Antony Blinken said. But chances of a resumption of talks soon appeared remote given the turmoil within the Taliban. Pakistan denies being able to influence the militants who are fighting to expel foreign forces and bring down the Western-backed government in Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will attend the second day of the conference on Wednesday.
Cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is seen as essential for improving stability in the region but hopes for warmer ties after Mr Ghani was inaugurated were quickly dashed, largely because of a series of bomb attacks in Kabul in August. Many Afghans, including Mr Ghani’s political opponents, accuse Pakistan of backing the Taliban, restricting Mr Ghani’s efforts to improve relations with Pakistan.
