Sharif assures Karzai of attempting to bring Afghan Taliban to negotiation table

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reportedly assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan would put in all the efforts to bring Taliban to the negotiating table.

Karzai had asked for Pakistan's help to convince the Taliban to shift their office from Doha to either Saudi Arabia or Turkey and start negotiations with Kabul to establish peace in the country, a senior official said.

According to the report, Sharif has assured Karzai that Pakistan would do whatever lies in its powers to bring the Taliban to strike a peace deal, Express Tribune reports.

The Doha office opened in June could not take off due to strong objections by the Karzai administration.

Pakistan and some of the freed Taliban detainees are seen as critical links to any future political dispensation in Afghanistan post-2014 withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Pakistan has also agreed to free more detainees, but the timing of such releases was yet to be decided, the report added.

Prime Minister's Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs said Karzai's visit was a 'step forward in reducing the trust deficit' that marred relationship between the two countries over the past few months.

Karzai was 'terribly anxious' for getting in contact with the Taliban leaders, particularly with those in Pakistan's custody, Afghan sources told The Express Tribune.