Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban are likely to resume as early as next week, Pakistani officials said Wednesday.

“An internationally guaranteed and monitored peace process is likely to get underway next week,” the officials told VOA, requesting anonymity. They added Pakistan wants an international presence in the entire process because of the long history of mistrust and suspicions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The development stemmed from a string of bilateral, trilateral and quadrilateral meetings in Islamabad involving Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and top American and Chinese officials.

The discussions took place on the sidelines of an annual regional conference on Afghanistan. The officials told VOA that Pakistan at the meetings “laid out both its leverage and limitations” with factions of the Afghan insurgency and assured all participants Islamabad “will do whatever it can to bring at least those to the [negotiating] table who are under its influence.” Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani confirmed an understanding has been reached on starting the reconciliation talks with the Taliban.