President Ashraf Ghani’s special envoy for regional affairs on consensus around peace and head of the High Peace Council's secretariat, Umer Daudzai, is expected to visit Pakistan on Tuesday where he will meet top Pakistani military, religious and political leaders about Afghanistan’s peace process, the High Peace Council's spokesman said.
“He (Umer Daudzai) will meet Pakistan’s minister of foreign affairs about the peace process in Afghanistan. He will also meet Pakistani army chief including Pakistan’s influential political and religious leaders who have a key role in Pakistan’s domestic and foreign policy,” said HPC spokesman Sayed Ehsan Tahiri.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan on Sunday said Pakistani and Turkish officials have held talks on the prospects of peace in Afghanistan.
“I had a meeting with Turkish minister of foreign affairs where I got the opportunity to talk with him about the changing situation in Afghanistan,” said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The office of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday reported that Iran has also started extensive efforts aimed at persuading Taliban to endorse direct peace negotiations with the Afghan government.
“They (Iran) persuade the Taliban to present their demands through political and peaceful means,” said Omid Maisam, deputy spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah.
But, lawmakers in Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of Parliament, said regional countries are seeking their own interests from the Afghan peace process.
Although the Taliban have persistently rejected the Afghan government offer for direct talks, but the high peace council says that the resurgent movement will soon shine green light to engage in direct talks with the Afghan government.
National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib, who visited India earlier this week, called on Taliban to engage in intra-Afghan dialogue and directly talk to the government as the opportunity may not always exist.
“Peace is the desire of our people, but until there is peace, we must defend our people. There will be no peace without Afghans – intra-Afghan dialogue, the Afghan government has offered at multiple occasions direct dialogue,” he said as quoted by India Today.