ISLAMABAD: An Afghan Taliban political team arrived in Islamabad on Monday as part of efforts to help launch peace talks between the Kabul government and the insurgents, just days after Pakistan gave sweeping orders to enforce United Nations’ sanctions against the militant group.
The Taliban delegation is headed by their political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and will discuss “recent developments in Afghanistan’s peace process” with Pakistani leaders, as well as “relaxation and facilitation of people’s movement and trade between the two neighboring countries,” according to a tweet by the spokesman for the Taliban political office.
In a press conference on Monday morning, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the meetings were meant to further the “aim” of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan.
“I have invited them again and will have a detailed meeting with them tomorrow,” he told reporters, saying he would share the outcome of the talks with the media.
Other members of the Taliban team include Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mohammad Nabi Omari, Shahbuddin Dilawar, Qari Deen Muhammad and Abdul Latif Mansoor.
“Officials of the Islamic Emirate [Afghan Taliban] routinely pay visits to regional and other countries of the world as part of our political strategy to convey our views about the peace process,” the Taliban spokesman said on Twitter, saying visits had been delayed in the recent past due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Taliban’s arrival in Pakistan follows a statement by Pakistan’s foreign ministry late on Saturday that it would enforce 2015 UN-imposed penalties that target dozens of individuals, including Baradar and several members of the Haqqani family, including Sirajuddin, the current head of the Haqqani network and deputy head of the Taliban.
The timing of Pakistan’s decision to issue the orders has been seen by some as a pressure tactic to push the Taliban to start intra-Afghan negotiations.
On Sunday the insurgent group said the sanctions could indeed affect the peace process.
“These are not new sanctions; they were slapped on a number of members of the Islamic Emirate previously,” the Taliban said. “But while we are now entering into intra-Afghan negotiations and there is a need for travel, so of course these embargoes or sanctions will hamper the peace process.”
But Qureshi clarified that the Taliban officials were coming to Pakistan on Islamabad’s invitation and the peace process would not be hampered by the sanctions.
“We have invited them [Taliban] … we had a long and productive consultative meeting in this foreign office with Taliban delegation before the signing of Doha agreement,” he said, referring to a United States-Taliban deal signed in February that sets conditions for the US troop pullout from Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the Afghan government agreed to release 400 “hardcore” Taliban prisoners, paving the way for peace talks aimed at ending almost two decades of war.
The insurgent group welcomed the move and said it was ready to begin talks within 10 days of the release.
Under election-year pressure from President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the country’s grand assembly, or Loya Jirga, approved the release.
The Taliban militant had demanded the release of the 400, the last batch among 5,000 prisoners to be freed, as a condition to join peace talks.
Among the 400 are Taliban members accused of major attacks against civilians and foreigners, including a 2017 truck bombing near the German embassy in Kabul that killed more than 150 people — the deadliest attack in the 19-year insurgency.
With the release, the Afghan government will fulfil its pledge to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
