Afghan Taliban casts doubts over Sartaj Aziz's peace talks claims

The Afghan Taliban has reportedly cast doubts over claims made by Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz that the leaders of the militant group had recently met representatives of a government-sponsored peace council in China.

Commenting on the statement, a Taliban official said that they did not know who went to Urumqi and added that the leadership will disown people who had attended the meeting last month, reported The Express Tribune.

The Taliban leadership council said that ever since its political office was inaugurated, no one had been allowed to attend or discuss political affairs with anyone as a representative of the Islamic Emirate without receiving prior authorisation by its leader or the political office itself.

Aziz had claimed that Pakistan had facilitated the meeting in the Chinese city of Urumqi and had told lawmakers that another meeting was expected to take place soon.