Backed by Pakistan, Afghan Taliban Leaders Call for Return to Peace Talks

Pakistan FM says talks with US should resume as soon as possible

Senior Afghan Taliban officials visited Islamabad this week to talk with the Pakistani government about the stalled peace process with the US, and are seeking Pakistani officials’ help in getting the talks restarted.

The Pakistani government seems to be going along with the idea, with the Foreign Ministry issuing a statement saying that they agree with the Taliban that the process should be resumed as soon as possible.

President Trump, who already declared the peace process “dead,” seems to be going with that stance, again citing the Taliban having killed an American soldier, saying that the Taliban will “probably never” recover from that loss of standing with the US.

At the same time, Trump didn’t appear to totally rule out a return to peace talks with the Taliban. The practicality of that is unclear, as the deal was essentially finalized already when Trump declared the talks dead, and it’s not clear at what point they’d be restarted.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.