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Karzai to Visit Pakistan for Talks on Peace Process

August 25, 2013

by VOA News

Afghan President Hamid Karzai travels to Pakistan Monday where he will meet with Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Karzai is expected to seek Pakistan's help in arranging talks between Afghan negotiators and Taliban representatives.

Afghan leaders have long alleged that neighboring Pakistan shelters top Taliban commanders and that the country's spy agency, ISI, helps the insurgents plan cross-border attacks on local and U.S.-led coalition forces. Pakistan denies the allegations.

Kabul's ambassador in Islamabad, Mohammad Umer Daudzai, has said while Afghanistan and Pakistan have failed to make any progress in the "whole security department," the two countries have strengthened ties in other areas.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, says President Karzai's visit is a symbol of how the leadership of both countries wants to further improve relations.

Officials in Kabul say that in his talks with Pakistani leaders, Karzai will also repeat his demand that Islamabad release all Afghan prisoners from its jails, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a former deputy commander of the Taliban.

The insurgent leader was believed to be independently attempting to engage in peace talks with Afghan authorities, but his actions apparently upset Pakistani officials and he was detained while traveling through Pakistan in 2010.

Pakistan says it helped more than two dozen Taliban representatives travel to Qatar to open a political office in June as part of a U.S. peace plan to give the insurgency an address where they can engage in talks.

But the fanfare surrounding the opening ceremony and a proposed direct meeting between the Taliban and American officials upset Karzai provoking him to boycott the peace process.

Afghan authorities are now demanding Pakistan use the same influence to facilitate a direct meeting between Taliban representatives and members of the Afghan Peace Council, saying the venue of the talks is immaterial for them.