...Arabic for
students...
as a legitimate political group, and said Pakistain is ready for one-on-one talks with the Afghan Taliban.
Asif's statements come a day after Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. 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. ..at the second Kabul Process conference offered recognition of the Taliban as a political group and asked the group to take part in peace talks "to save the country".
The offer adds to a series of signals from both the Western-backed government and the Taliban suggesting a greater willingness to consider dialogue.
The Afghan president said the process would be accompanied by coordinated diplomatic support including a global effort to persuade Pakistain, which Kabul has regularly accused of aiding the Taliban, of the advantages of a stable Afghanistan. Ghani also renewed an offer of talks with Pakistain, which Islamabad welcomed.
"The talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government are actually discussions between two political forces, and Pakistain will support it," Asif told a group of China-Pakistain Economic Corridor investors today.
"Pakistain is also ready for one-on-one mediation with the Afghan Taliban," he added,
The foreign minister observed that "some institutions" portray their own interests as being in the greater national interest, and that "this habit will also be changed soon".
"The effects of the 80s and the Musharraf era still exist, Pakistain will not make the same mistakes now and keep American interests above its own," Asif asserted.