Pakistan postpones second round of Afghan-Taliban Peace Talks

Following the reported death of the insurgents’ leader Mullah Omar, Pakistan’s foreign office said the second round of Afghan-Taliban Peace negotiations has been postponed.

A short statement by Pakistan’s foreign office says that the postponement has been done due to the request of the Afghan Taliban leadership.

“Pakistan and other friendly countries of Afghanistan hope that the Taliban leadership will stay engaged in the process of peace talks in order to promote a lasting peace in Afghanistan,” the statement said.

However, Taliban group claimed ignorance in any kind of peace talks with Afghan government.

Previously, Pakistan was the expected venue for the meeting, due to take place on Friday, where Afghan officials had pledged to press the insurgents for a ceasefire.

The postponement comes as Afghan officials yesterday declared Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader dead.

A brief statement from the office of the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, said Omar, who had not been seen in public since 2001 and had been reported dead several times before, died two years ago in Pakistan.

The first round of talks brokered by Pakistan between representatives of the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban concluded in Murree, with both parties agreeing to meet again.

Pakistan hosted the meeting in a tentative step towards ending more than 13 years of war in neighboring Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been trying to re-establish their hard-line Islamist regime after it was toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in 2001.