Taliban couldn't re-emerge without Pakistan help: Afghan envoy

Days after Afghanistan's cross-border attack in Chaman, its envoy to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal said the Taliban could not have re-emerged in Afghanistan without help from within Pakistan, and peace cannot be restored without Islamabad's help.

No country is better placed to help the peace process in Afghanistan than Pakistan, Zakhilwal told an international conference about peace in Afghanistan on Thursday.

Zakhilwal raised questions about the effectiveness of the ongoing peace efforts in the region, and said that although a number of processes were in place for keeping peace, "there is a question mark on how effective these measures are", Dawn reported.

The Afghan envoy held Pakistan responsible for the Taliban's return to Afghanistan, saying, "The Taliban could not have returned to Afghanistan without help from within Pakistan."

"Taliban have the hidden support of some countries, while there are also questions about the peace-keeping efforts from Russia," he added.

The envoy maintained that peace would prevail in Afghanistan if Pakistan and India joined hands to resolve the issue, and lauded Islamabad and New Delhi for their efforts at trying to keep the peace in 2002.

"We should understand what peace is before talking about it," Zakhilwal said, adding that "help from Iran and Saudi Arabia will go a long way".

Talking about the new terror threats that the region faces, Zakhilwal reminded the conference participants that the IS terror group, a rising threat in the region, is currently engaged in an ongoing tussle with the Afghan Taliban for regional dominance.

--IANS

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