[Tolo News] Prominent Pak holy man and leader of Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Pakistain, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, met with President Ashraf Ghani...former chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
in Islamabad on Friday and warned that war would continue in Afghanistan until the complete withdraw of foreign troops.
President Ghani arrived in Islamabad on Friday in order to meet with Pakistani officials and other stakeholders in an attempt to advance peace talks with the Taliban. The trip is Ghani's first to Pakistan since being elected president, and it is expected to be an important one in setting the tone of the relationship between his government and the one in Islamabad, which has often been charged by Afghan officials with aiding and abetting the Taliban insurgency.
In the first few hours of his trip, President Ghani met with Pakistan's National Security Advisor, Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan's Finance Minister, Eshaq Dar, in addition to Fazlurrahman, who is often cited as the spiritual father of the Taliban.
Although Fazlurrahman indicated support for reconciliation between the current Afghan government in Kabul and the Taliban, he made it clear that no peace will come to Afghanistan unless all foreign troops are gone.
"We believe that the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan is not permissible and defensive efforts will continue against it, we demand the internal security of Afghanistan," Fazlurrahman said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's National Security Advisor, Sartaj Aziz, reaffirmed his country's commitment to helping establish peace and stability in Afghanistan, and denied stoking the fire of the conflict. "We never endorse civil war and the war, Afghanistan very much needs peace after suffering thirty years of civil war and the whole world must support Afghanistan in this area," Aziz said.
The Pakistani military and intelligence services are considered by experts around the world to be key allies of the insurgent groups operating inside Afghanistan. Former President Hamid Karzai travelled to Pakistan as part of his peace initiatives 20 times, but to no avail. On a number of occasions, Pakistani leaders made major proclamations and verbal commitments for helping reconcile the Taliban and the Kabul government, no doubt under pressure from the international community, but then never went on to follow up the words with action.
Nevertheless, Afghan officials for the most part remain convinced that Islamabad can be won over and that cooperation is possible. Acting Minister of Finance Omar Zakhelwal has suggested that increasing economic ties could be a step in that direction. "There is a good change in the spirit of cooperation and efforts have been accelerated to further strengthen our ties, we also strive to create an environment of cooperation in the economic sector," Zakhelwal said. As part of Ghani's delegation to Islamabad, he said the main difference from past trips is that they hoped to actually formulate formal written agreements.
In his first few meetings with Pakistani officials, President Ghani also reportedly talked about border issues, the expansion of trade and commercial ties between the two nations.