US-Afghan peace deal: Pakistan's sincere role leads to historic breakthrough: FM

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan has played a sincere role in constructing a roadmap for peace in Afghanistan, which led to the "historic breakthrough" as both the United States and the Taliban have agreed to sign a peace deal on 29th of this month.

In a statement, the foreign minister said that Pakistan's sincere efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan had borne fruit finally and expressed the hope that the Afghan peace process would move forward and prepare a ground for intra-Afghan dialogue.

Qureshi said that following the peace deal between the United States and the Taliban on 29th of this month, an effort would be made to move towards intra-Afghan dialogue.

He said that it was not an easy task to bring the Taliban to the table of negotiations and woo the United States to restart the Afghan peace process. The foreign minister said that it was a matter of satisfaction that both sides had now firmed up the peace deal.

He said that the deal would be signed in the presence of Pakistan as it was not possible to take forward matters without the constructive role played by Pakistan.

Qureshi said that the entire world including the United States was appreciating Pakistan's role. However, he warned that "We will have to be mindful of the spoilers".

"When US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad visited Islamabad recently, both Prime Minister Imran Khan and I myself held detailed discussions with him regarding the peace process. We constructed a roadmap to peace," Qureshi said.

The foreign minister said that he also told Khalilzad that the US and its allies in the region should be mindful of certain elements that benefit from continued fighting in Afghanistan.

"I warned him [Khalilzad] that these elements are bent upon destroying the progress of our peace efforts," the foreign minister said. He also pointed out that when US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, visited Pakistan for his maiden visit last year; relations between the two countries were at the lowest ebb.

"Pompeo told me that the pathway to fixing relations between Pakistan and the US came through Kabul. Now I would like to remind him that we have fulfilled all our promises. Not only did we build a peace team but we also played our role in ensuring that the negotiations were successful," Qureshi added.

He also called upon the Afghan government to shun their differences to ensure lasting peace in the country. After February, Qureshi said that efforts would be made to form a delegation to promote intra-Afghan peace process. "We have also decided when and how those talks will take place. Pakistan has played its role in the peace process with wholeheartedness and honesty and it is now incumbent upon the Afghan government to do its job," Qureshi added.