ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived in Istanbul on Monday to attend the 8th Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process conference.
“Foreign Minister will inform (the forum) about the Afghan peace process and the steps taken by Pakistan for stability in the region,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.
Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Afghan counterpart, Idrees Zaman, will co-chair the conference.
The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process was established to address the shared challenges and interests of Afghanistan and its neighbors and regional partners.
It provides a platform for “sincere and results-oriented regional cooperation by placing Afghanistan at its center, in recognition of the fact that a secure and stable Afghanistan is vital to the prosperity of the Heart of Asia region,” the Afghan government said in a statement.
On Dec. 7, the Taliban and the United States restarted formal peace negotiations after a nearly three-month pause.
In September, US President Donald Trump called off talks with the Taliban in reaction to the deaths of 12 people, including a US soldier in a Taliban attack in Kabul.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office welcomed the resumption of the US-Taliban talks. “We hope that it will lead to intra-Afghan negotiations and ultimately to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan,” FO said in a statement, highlighting that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
“An inclusive peace and reconciliation process, involving all segments of the Afghan society, is the only practical way forward,” the statement reads.
