Pakistan to table Taliban list in four-nation peace talk

Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are scheduled to meet in Islamabad today  to discuss a road map for peace talks. The meeting will not include the Taliban. Javid Faisal, deputy spokesman for Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, said Pakistan’s list will include Taliban who do and do not want talks with Kabul on ending the 15-year war. 

Faisal said Pakistan has agreed to cut off financial support to Taliban fighters based in Pakistani cities, including Quetta and Peshawar. Insurgents based in Pakistan would not be allowed to resettle in Afghanistan, he added. The agreement would also include “bilateral cooperation on eliminating terrorism,” Faisal said. “Those who are interested in peace can join the dialogue, but those who wish to continue the fight will be targeted through joint counter-terrorism platforms,” Faisal said, referring to bilateral agreements. Faisal said the terms had been agreed to during a visit to Kabul last month by Pakistan’s powerful army chief of staff Gen. Raheel Sharif, though discussions had begun earlier. Pakistani officials could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Pakistan has consistently denied U.S. and Afghan allegations that it gives financial or material support to Afghanistan’s Taliban. The CIA has publicly accused Pakistan of supporting the Haqqani group, a Taliban affiliate and U.S.-declared terrorist group. Monday’s meeting in Islamabad could revive a process that collapsed last summer after Afghanistan announced that Mullah Mohammad Omar, founder and leader of the Taliban, had died in a Pakistani hospital more than two years ago. 

The announcement led the Taliban to pull out of the talks after just one meeting hosted by Islamabad. A subsequent power struggle within the Taliban has raised questions about who would represent the insurgents if and when the talks with Kabul are restarted. 

The Taliban have stepped up attacks since the U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission a year ago, and the insurgents are battling local security forces on several fronts. 

The Taliban are expected to keep up the fight even if peace talks get off the ground in order to secure territory.