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Former Pakistan envoy calls on Taliban to embrace a lasting ceasefire
In a discussion with Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Asif Durrani, former Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan, called on the Taliban to respect the demands of Afghans and to declare a lasting ceasefire.
According to Durrani, the Afghan peace talks are now entering an important phase and internal and external spoilers’ efforts to undermine the negotiations should be neutralized.
“A ceasefire should be announced by the Taliban, they should agree on a ceasefire… when you talk about intra-Afghan dialogue, the Taliban’s logic is that they will agree to a ceasefire once a peace agreement has been successfully negotiated; I do not think this is logical,” said Durrani.
Durrani also warned against a hasty withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, adding that this could lead to another civil war in the country.
“It can! Why not? Because this is Afghanistan and those circumstances have not changed, the power play has not changed,” he said.
This comes after both Russia and China expressed concerns about a hasty withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
“If the US troops withdraw from Afghanistan before an agreement among Afghans [is sealed] a civil, even proxy war, will be intensified,” said Tariq Farhadi, former adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Durrani also emphasized the need for neighborly support regarding the peace process and said that there is a strong consensus between Pakistan, US, China and Russia on the Afghan peace process.
Pakistan’s government on Friday extended the stay of Afghan refugees in the country till June 30, amid repatriation of illegal foreign nationals.
There are around 1.3 million registered Afghans living in Pakistan, according to a spokesman for UN refugee agency UNHCR in Islamabad, Dawn newspaper reported.
“On the recommendation of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, the federal cabinet approved the extension of the validity of PoR cards of Afghan refugees from April 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024,” said an official statement, issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PoR cardholders will be repatriated in the third phase of the plan that will begin after the repatriation of “illegal foreign nationals” residing in Pakistan is completed, the statement added.
The PoR card holders avail schools, bank accounts and other facilities in Pakistan.
Repatriation of undocumented refugees began on November 1 and continues. More than 500,000 Afghans have been expelled so far.
John Bass, US acting under secretary of state for political affairs, will travel to Qatar and Pakistan April 26-30, US State Department announced on Friday.
In Doha, Qatar, he will meet with senior Qatari government officials and other diplomatic missions to discuss support for Afghanistan and shared security interests in the region, US State Department said in a statement.
In Islamabad, Pakistan, Under Secretary Bass will meet with senior Pakistani government officials to discuss a range of regional and bilateral issues as part of the U.S.-Pakistani partnership, the statement added.
John Bass served as US ambassador to Afghanistan under Donald Trump administration between December 2017 and January 2020.
A tripartite meeting between the delegations of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan was held in Kabul with the aim of connecting North Asia to South Asia and reducing transit and transportation costs among these three countries, the Ministry of Trade and Commerce said in a statement.
In this meeting, an agreement was reached on the creation of a joint technical committee to continue the talks.
This tripartite meeting was held under the leadership of Nooruddin Azizi, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, Vice President of Turkmenistan and Srik Zhumangarin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.
Earlier, a bilateral meeting was held between the delegation of the Islamic Emirate and Turkmenistan. The ministry of commerce said the participants of the meeting discussed the construction of a large joint logistics center in Torghondi, the trilateral transit agreement between the IEA, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, the expansion of Afghanistan’s railway, solving issues related to Afghan transit and export goods, and a number of other commercial issues.
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