In a significant departure from the Pakistani government’s consistent, years-long denial of relations with the Taliban, one of its most senior foreign policy officials went on the record this week to say that the Islamic extremist group’s leaders reside in Pakistan. The admission by Sartaj Aziz, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s top adviser on foreign affairs, came during a panel discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. “We have some influence on them because their leadership is in Pakistan, and they get some medical facilities, their families are here,” Aziz said, responding to a question about Pakistan’s role in peace talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan government. “So we can use those levers to pressurize them to say ‘come to the table,’” he said, “but we can’t negotiate on behalf of the Afghan government because we can’t offer them what the Afghan government can.” Although Pakistan’s sheltering of the militant group is considered something of an open secret by experts familiar with the region, the official position has always been a denial of any linkages. “We do not make any comment on [political leaders’ statements],” a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign office told the BBC.
Pakistan Has Finally Admitted That Afghan Taliban Leaders Are Living There
Rishi Iyengar, Time
Fri, 03/04/2016 - 1:10am
BING NEWS:
- An Afghan Woman Activist’s Visit to Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan
Zerka Malyar and her team sought to confront the Taliban on the critical issue of women’s rights.
05/3/2024 - 2:15 pm | View Link - 'Life or death': After being targeted by Taliban for helping Marines, Afghan interpreter granted asylum years after fleeing to Arizona
Zabi, who was an Afghan interpreter who fled the Middle East as a refugee ... In August 2021, his work with the Marines made him a target of the Taliban. Help came for Zabi from Darius Amiri, ...
05/3/2024 - 2:06 pm | View Link - Taliban leaders enforce brutal restrictions against women, except for their own daughters
Taliban leaders may have exempted the women in their lives from the harsher aspects of their rules, but recognizing this offense is an important first step holding them accountable for the ...
04/24/2024 - 10:30 am | View Link - Bomber targets Japanese workers in Pakistan; all survive
Many Afghan leaders and scholars lived in Quetta and elsewhere in Pakistan before the Afghan Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew. Most then ...
04/19/2024 - 3:23 am | View Link - Uncleared landmines, ordnance threaten lives, limbs along Pakistan-Afghan border
Officials from Pakistani tribal districts along the Afghan border say uncleared landmines and ordnance remain a deadly legacy. Decades worth of buried explosives continue to end or ruin lives ...
04/19/2024 - 1:11 am | View Link - More
Welcome to Wopular
Wopular is an
online newspaper rack,
giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.
Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular,
MWB,
RottenTomatoes
MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site
- "Expendables 4" Starts Shooting This Fall, Says Randy Couture at the Arnold Sports Festival more
- “Expendables 4” Gets Funding Interest from “Ip Man 3” Financier more
- "Ip Man 3" Distributor Suspected of Box Office Fraud, Parent Company Loses $200M in Market Cap more
- Yen Targets "Ip Man 4" for 2018 Release; Discusses Film with Director, Producer more
- "Ip Man 3" Shatters Expectations with $72M Opening [China Box Office] more