A delegation of the Afghan Taliban Qatar's office has reportedly arrived in Pakistan to discuss the possible direct interaction between Kabul and the insurgents in the country. According to diplomatic sources, the delegation of the Taliban's Qatar office includes Mullah Shahabuddin Dilawar, former diplomat, who served in Afghan consulate in Peshawar during Taliban regime and Jan Mohammad Madni, who served as Afghan ambassador to UAE and the name of the third Taliban leader could not be confirmed.
The Taliban delegation, which was not officially confirmed by the Foreign Office, came at a time when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday said that 'Afghanistan will no longer seek Pakistan's role in ongoing peace process with the Taliban. We want Pakistan to honour its commitment and take military action against the Afghan Taliban. We want them to handover the Taliban to the Afghan government so we can try them in Sharia courts," Ghani said in a policy statement to the Afghan parliament. The sources further said that a meeting of the four-nation Quadrilateral Co-ordination Group (QCG) of Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China is expected to take place in Islamabad next week and the Taliban delegation was here to discuss the prospects of the direct talks with Kabul.
In its fourth meeting in Kabul on February 23, 2016, the QCG had indicated that the direct talks of Kabul with the Taliban and other armed groups would take place in the first week of March 2016 but the two sides are yet to sit together for the peace talks.
Official sources said that Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry who would lead Pakistan's delegation to the Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process in New Delhi on Tuesday (today) would reiterate Pakistan's commitment to the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process to restore peace and stability in Afghanistan. The sources further said that the foreign secretary will also hold talks with Afghan delegation on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia conference and discuss the ongoing efforts to bring the Taliban to the direct talks with Afghan government.
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