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Pakistan Vows to Help Afghanistan Achieve Cease-Fire

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan assured leaders of
   war-torn neighboring Afghanistan Thursday his government will do its
   utmost to help them in their bid to seek a reduction in Taliban-led
   violence.
   Khan made the remarks at the conclusion of his day-long maiden visit to
   Kabul where he held extensive talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
   on bilateral security and economic ties, as well as matters related to
   regional peace.
   Both the leaders later spoke at a joint news conference and vowed to
   enhance cooperation between their security institutions to further the
   Afghan peace process.
   "Pakistan played its role in getting first the Taliban to talk to the
   Americans and then [participate in] the intra-Afghan dialogue," Khan
   said.
   "We notice with concern that despite the [intra-Afghan] talks in Qatar.
   the level of violence is rising. So, my idea of choosing this time to
   come was to assure you that Pakistan will do everything, whatever is
   possible we will do to help reduce this violence and in fact move
   toward a cease-fire," Khan vowed.
   The months-long U.S.-Taliban negotiations produced a landmark deal this
   past February aimed at closing the 19-year-old war, initiating a
   "conditions-based" withdrawal of American and NATO troops from
   Afghanistan by May 2021.
   The pact also opened the first-ever direct talks between the Taliban
   and representatives of the Ghani government in September, being hosted
   by the Gulf state of Qatar.
   The so-called intra-Afghan dialogue, however, has stalled for most
   part, and battlefield hostilities between Afghan security forces and
   the Taliban also have spiked to unusually high levels.
   Pakistan's links with the Taliban have been the primary source of
   political tensions with Afghanistan. Kabul has long alleged insurgent
   leaders direct their violent campaign from Pakistani soil. Islamabad
   denies the charges, although officials say the approximately 3 million
   Afghan refugees Pakistan still hosts serve as a hiding place for
   insurgents,
   "Our common objective is to take a leap of faith to overcome the
   distrust that has haunted our relationship," Ghani told the news
   conference.

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