Afghan Taliban delegation arrives in Pakistan

Afghan Taliban delegation arrives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A delegation of the Afghan Taliban’s led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has arrived in Islamabad today (Monday).

According to details, the delegation has reached Pakistan from Doha. 

As per the statement issued on Sunday, Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said that the Afghan Taliban delegation is coming to Pakistan at the invitation of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The delegation will hold talks with the Pakistani leadership on the Afghan reconciliation process.

Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen took to the twitter to confirm the visit and said that Mullah Baradar would lead the delegation to Pakistan at the invitation of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.

He wrote in the tweet that the officials of the Islamic Emirate regularly visit other countries of the world as part of the political strategy of the organization to present their views on the peace process.

Earlier in February, the United States signed a landmark deal with the Taliban, laying out a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months as it seeks an exit from its longest-ever war.

The agreement is expected to lead to a dialogue between the Taliban and the Kabul government that, if successful, could ultimately see an end to the grinding 18-year conflict.

Taliban fighter-turned-dealmaker Mullah Baradar signed the accord alongside Washington’s chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad, at a gilded desk in a conference room in a luxury Doha hotel.

The pair then shook hands, as people in the room shouted "Allahu Akbar".

Agreement signed in Doha in the presence of leaders from Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, will pave the way for the United States to gradually withdraw its troops.

Kabul has released about 4,680 prisoners while the Taliban say they have freed 1,000 members of Afghan security forces, broadly fulfilling an agreement outlined in a deal reached between the US and the Taliban.

But the swap has stumbled over the final few hundred prisoners, with Kabul reluctant to release what it says are dangerous Taliban fighters tied to deadly attacks.