Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet with leaders of the Taliban in the near future in an attempt to push forward an otherwise sluggish peace process in war-weary Afghanistan, his adviser on political affairs said Wednesday, as quoted by Pakistani news agencies.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet the Taliban leaders soon for the peaceful resolution of the Afghan crisis and the Afghan government has also shown its consent in this regard,” an advisor to the Pakistani premier Naeem ul Haq said as quoted by state-run Radio Pakistan while addressing a conference in the capital, Islamabad.
Haq said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Pakistan late last month had helped build confidence between the two neighbors.
Ghani’s visit comes after Pakistan hosted dozens of Afghan political leaders to discuss the peace process and ways to move it forward.
The VOA said in a report on Thursday that an Afghan official confirmed, on the condition of anonymity, that the move has the Afghan government’s consent.
This comes as the US and the Taliban are holding the seventh round of their talks in Doha where the two sides are expected to reach an agreement on four key issues under debate.
