This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial "Afghan peace talks" carried by the newspaper in its July 2 issue. It has argued, among other things, that "The fourth interlocutor, Pakistan, has for some time now been arguing publicly for an 'Afghan-owned intra-Afghan dialogue' as the path to peace and stability inside Afghanistan and in its regional environs. This is a marked difference from its alleged support to the Afghan Taliban since 2001, which arguably has led to blunting the hold of the US and its Afghan allies on the country.
Pakistan has in fact always supported an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution to the Afghan issue. Such a solution is indispensable for a political solution in the war-torn country. Insofar as Afghan Taliban are concerned, Pakistan has always viewed its relationship with them through the prism of strategic interest, rather than from an ideological prism. After all Afghan Taliban are a legitimate political entity.