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US Diplomat in Pakistan for Talks on Afghan Peace

by Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD --

   A U.S. diplomat has begun crucial meetings with officials in Pakistan
   to seek their cooperation in pushing Taliban insurgents to engage in
   peace and reconciliation talks with the Afghan government.

   Alice Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary for South and Central
   Asia, Monday met with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.
   Officials have promised to issue details at the conclusion of her
   visit.

   On Tuesday, Wells is scheduled to meet with military chief General
   Qamar Javed Bajwa, official sources confirmed.

   Ambassador Wells arrived in Islamabad a day after holding wide-ranging
   talks with leaders in Afghanistan, where she noted pressure was
   building on the Taliban to respond to President Ashraf Ghani's offer of
   peace talks in the wake of growing public calls for ending years of
   hostilities.

   A temporary, unprecedented mutual cease-fire between the warring sides
   during last month's Muslim festival of Eid has raised hopes for making
   long-sought Afghan peace talks possible.

   "Right now it's the Taliban leaders, and frankly it's Taliban leaders
   who aren't residing in Afghanistan, who are the obstacle to a
   negotiated political settlement," she told reporters in Kabul.

   Wells did not name any country, but U.S. and Afghan officials have long
   alleged the Taliban leadership is using Pakistani soil for
   orchestrating cross-border attacks. She again stressed the need for
   Islamabad to take "sustained and decisive action" to bring the Taliban
   to the negotiating table.

   Pakistan denies it is providing any support to the insurgents or
   harboring "safe havens" on its territory and cites tens of thousands of
   civilian as well as security casualties the country has suffered in the
   process. Military officials maintain sustained counterterrorism
   operations have eliminated all terrorism-related infrastructure in the
   country.

   But despite those assurances, Islamabad's mistrusted relations with
   Washington have deteriorated particularly over the past year, halting
   high-level contacts between the two uneasy allies in the "war against
   terrorism."

   The U.S. administration, however, resumed the diplomatic engagements
   with Pakistan last month. Wells acknowledged in her statement that
   without Pakistani cooperation, "it is going to be very hard for us to
   achieve our objectives" in Afghanistan.

   Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal, in a statement ahead of
   Wells' arrival, noted Islamabad would be happy to expand bilateral
   relations with the U.S. "on the basis of mutual interests," citing
   historical longstanding partnership in trade and the war against
   terrorism.