Pakistan says ‘actively’ pushing for resumption of talks between Taliban, Kabul 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has said Islamabad was “very actively” trying to push the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents to resume peace talks for a political settlement in the war-torn country, Pakistan’s state run media reported on Wednesday. 
A spokesman for the Taliban said this week the group planned to present a written peace proposal to the Afghan government side as soon as next month even as insurgents make major territorial gains in the breach left by departing foreign forces.
Hundreds of Afghan security force members have fled into neighboring Tajikistan in the face of Taliban advances since the United States vacated its main Afghan base, centerpiece of US and NATO might for almost two decades in the country, as part of a plan to withdraw all foreign troops by September 11.
While the transfer of Bagram Air Base to the Afghan army added momentum to a Taliban drive to seize control over new districts, Taliban leaders renewed the long stalled talks with Afghan government envoys in Qatar’s capital Doha last week.
“As the United States completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan is very actively involved in trying to move the Afghan government and Taliban to resume talks for a political settlement of the conflict,” Radio Pakistan quoted Akram as saying in response to questions about Afghanistan during a briefing with UN correspondents. 
“Pakistan had in the first instance facilitated talks between the United States and Taliban in Doha and then between Afghan government and Taliban in its efforts to promote a settlement that would bring the long-running war to an end,” Radio Pakistan said. 
Referring to a report about a Taliban peace plan to be presented to the Afghan government, the Pakistani envoy said: “It is a good proposal on which negotiations could move forward.”