ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan is once again trying to mediate between the Pakistani government and the banned TTP, Kabul’s envoy to Pakistan told a foreign news outlet.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, acting Afghan envoy to Pakistan, Sardar Ahmed Khan Shakib, said the new setup in Kabul is trying its best to convince the Pakistani government and the militant group to return to the negotiating table and resolve their problems through dialogue.
Tentative peace talks between the two sides were suspended by the government-appointed negotiation committee after the TTP claimed to have killed paramilitary soldiers and blamed Islamabad for ceasefire violations.
Shakib said the talks process has not ended, although it may have been postponed. He also reiterated not to allow Afghan soil to be used against other countries saying the Afghan interim government will keep its promise.
He warned saying if this issue is not resolved through peace talks, it will create a lot of problems in the future.
Commenting on the fencing issue between the two neighboring countries, he said Kabul will address all these issues through diplomatic channels. “Two delegations, one from Afghanistan and the other from Pakistan, have been assigned to deal with the problem that recently happened along the Durand Line and related to the fencing project which is about 94 percent complete,” he said.
Last week, Inter-Services Public Relations Director-General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar has said that talks with the outlawed TTP are on hold, adding Pakistan will continue its operations to take them on “until they get rid of the menace”.
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He said the ceasefire was a confidence-building measure taken ahead of talks with these violent non-state actors at the request of the current Afghan government saying there is no ceasefire now, we are fighting, we are taking them on, and are conducting operations every day.
Sharing the state’s stance on the border fencing issue, he said work is underway and will be completed in some time. “The fence on the Pak-Afghan border is needed to regulate security, border-crossing, and trade. The purpose of this is not to divide but to protect them”.
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