American peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day visit to discuss Pakistan’s role in the peace negotiations, official sources said on Wednesday.
Khalilzad is visiting Pakistan after his talks in Kabul with Afghan government leaders and politicians to seek their input for his next round with the Taliban in Qatar.
The US envoy is likely to apprise the Pakistani officials at the foreign ministry of his talks with the Taliban.
Taliban and the US had reported progress in their Feb.25-March 12 talks; however, both had failed to strike any deal in their longest round since they have started talks in October last year. Pakistan could seek details of the American peace plan with the Taliban. Pakistan has been important role as facilitator and had freed senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is now leading Taliban political commission.
Khalilzad recognized Pakistan role during his visit to Kandahar on Tuesday.
The State Department says Khalilzad will also travel to Uzbekistan, Jordan as part of the overall effort to facilitate a peace process that brings all Afghan parties together in inclusive intra-Afghan negotiations.
The Special Representative will meet with the Allies and partners regarding the status of peace talks and to coordinate sustained commitment by the international community to peace and development in Afghanista, according to the State Department.
In Kabul he called for formation of an inclusive and authoritative delegation for peace negotiations. Taliban have already constituted a 14-member team under senior leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. No date for the next round has been decided but it could be held later this month and after the Taliban meeting with the Afghan political leaders in Doha on April 14-15.
The first round was held in Moscow in early February that was a major step towards the intra-Afghan dialogue. Taliban have rejected calls for talks with the Kabul administration. The Taliban political spokesmen Suhail Shaheen told Daily Times this week Taliban want to reach an agreement on the withdrawal of the foreign forces that could lead to discussions on other issues. “this issue as it is important to us. This phase has not yet completed. For the US, the issue to prevent Afghan soil from being used for terrorism against the US and its allies in future,” Shaheen said.
