Pakistan’s Sharif Urges Renewed Peace Talks in Afghanistan - USIP

Military Victory is Unlikely, Prime Minister Says
“Over the past 14 years a military solution has been elusive,” Sharif said in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace, referring to the Afghan war, the United States’ longest in history. “We believe it’s unlikely to be achieved in the future, thus achieving peace through negotiation is the best option.”

“Over the past 14 years a military solution has been elusive,” Sharif said in a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace, referring to the Afghan war, the United States’ longest in history. “We believe it’s unlikely to be achieved in the future, thus achieving peace through negotiation is the best option.”

Sharif said Pakistan facilitated the first official peace talks, in July, between the Afghan government and the Taliban, but Taliban officials canceled a second round after news emerged that their movement’s iconic leader, Mullah Omar, had died.  “Without the authority of their leader to engage in the dialogue, the Taliban broke off the talks,” Sharif said. Amid an internal struggle over new leadership, “their default option was to revert to a fighting mode,” he said.

Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan are carried out by Taliban who have found safe havens inside that country, Sharif said. The movement originated, and has retained roots, in Pakistani borderlands with Afghanistan. Afghan and U.S. officials for years have accused Pakistan’s military of tolerating or sustaining the Afghan Taliban groups operating from Pakistani territory.

Pakistan is once again prepared to bring the Taliban to peace talks if Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wants to re-engage, Sharif said. But “we cannot bring them to the table and kill them at the same time,” he said, referring to demands from Kabul that Pakistan destroy the Afghan Taliban presence in Pakistan. - Read More at Pakistan’s Sharif Urges

Pakistan’s Sharif Urges Renewed Peace Talks in Afghanistan

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