Taliban has chosen war over peace says Afghan envoy

Asserting that the Taliban has chosen war over peace, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Pakistan Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has said the militant group believes their goal can only be reached through war.

"Taliban believes in war and they [Taliban] think by continuing the war they can reach their goals in Afghanistan, especially in the upcoming war season, which is a big hindrance to peace," Tolo News quoted him, as saying.

Zakhilwal's statement came after Pakistan's Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz, voiced concerns over the rejection of peace talks by the Taliban and said that Islamabad could play a vital role in Afghanistan's peace process but could not directly order the Taliban to join the negotiations.

After Aziz's remarks, Kabul had announced that if the Taliban does not join the peace talks it would have to face full wrath of the security forces.

"Our request from Pakistan is that on the basis of agreements bring Taliban to the table and if this does not happen we, on the basis of quadrilateral meeting agreements, have fully prepared ourselves for military operations against the Taliban,"

Tolo news quoted said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesman Dawa Khan Menapal as saying.

There have been skeptics that Pakistan was not being honest in its dealings with Kabul.

However, Pakistani analysts believe that the new stance of the Taliban is a sign that they are not interested in peace talks.

The Afghan delegation and the Taliban were supposed to held talks in early march. However, the Taliban refused to join the peace talk's process resulting in the current deadlock.