Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid is said to have described Pakistan as Taliban's second or other home. His assertion, in my view, principally emanates from the fact that Pakistan has always advocated an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to the conflict with sincerity of purpose. It has always endorsed the legitimacy of Taliban as a principal stakeholder in the landlocked country. The Taliban, in my view, also fully appreciate the fact that Pakistan is working harder to help form in Afghanistan an all-inclusive government that enjoys wider global acceptance.

Mehdi Hasan (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021