ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the US and Taliban to re-engage in peace talks, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of calling off negotiations that had seemed to be nearing a peace agreement.
“Pakistan has been facilitating the peace and reconciliation process in good faith and as a shared responsibility, and has encouraged all sides to remain engaged with sincerity and patience,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement late on Sunday.
“Pakistan reiterates its principled policy stance that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and urges that both sides must re-engage to find negotiated peace from the ongoing political settlement process. Pakistan looks for optimized engagement following earliest resumption of talks,” the statement said.
In a series of Twitter posts, President Trump announced earlier in the day he had “called off” peace negotiations and was canceling a secret summit with the Taliban at Camp David due to an attack in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
In response, a Taliban statement said US negotiators had seemed “content” with negotiations and talks had ended in a “good atmosphere.”
“Now, as the president of the United States has announced suspension of negotiations with the Islamic Emirate, this will harm America more than anyone else,” the statement said.
Peshawar-based Afghan affairs expert Rustam Shah Mohmand said the cancelation had jeopardized the long-drawn-out process that began almost a year ago, and would escalate into a cycle of violence in Afghanistan.
“It is a very bad development for peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as the region,” Mohmand told Arab News.
“People will lose hope as there was an expectation that the peace negotiations will deliver a positive outcome,” he said, adding that criticism against peace talks within Trump’s government could have been one reason for the surprise announcement.
“Or it can be a ploy to put pressure on the Taliban, so they ... make some concessions for the Americans, because there was a perception in the US that the Taliban were getting everything without giving anything,” he added.
Former Pakistani diplomat Ayaz Wazir, who also served in Afghanistan, told Arab News that the development was unfortunate as US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad had invested more than a year into nine rounds of talks that were now in their final phase.
“The Taliban and US were indulged in an ongoing war and cease-fire was not reached. The Taliban have never claimed that they will stop attacks, rather they always maintain that they will keep on fighting unless some agreement is reached,” he said.
“This is not the first time that a US soldier died in an attack,” he added.
However, Wazir did not rule out the possibility that Trump’s decision could be reversed.
“We cannot completely trust Trump on such claims ... one day he canceled his meeting with the North Korean leader and the next day he announced he would meet him,” Wazir said, adding that a surge in violence and instability is possible, as hope for peace wavers.
“The whole world will blame the United States for this, not Afghans or Taliban,” Wazir said.