US envoy on Afghanistan holds talks with Pak Foreign Secretary

US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad Thursday held talks with Pakistan's Foreign Secretary here after extensive discussions in Kabul as part of his efforts to arrange the first-ever direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Khalilzad has held three round of talks with the Afghan Taliban in order to reach a settlement that would allow the US to withdraw its army and end a 17-year-old war America's longest.

This is Khalilzad's fifth trip to the region. He would call on the Foreign Minister on Friday 18 January.

The Foreign Office (FO) here said that Khalilzad held delegation level talks with Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua in Islamabad on developments in the Afghan reconciliation process.

Ambassador Khalilzad was accompanied by an interagency delegation representing Departments of Defence, State and National Security Council. Foreign Secretary Janjua was assisted by senior officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, the FO said in a statement.

He briefed the Pakistan side on his recent engagements in the region and lauded Islamabad's efforts in facilitating direct talks between the Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi last month, it said.

The Foreign Secretary reiterated Pakistan's commitment to facilitate Afghan reconciliation process to realise the shared goal of peace and stability in the region. They agreed that taking the Afghan peace process forward remained a shared responsibility.

The both sides agreed that ultimately an intra-Afghan dialogue would be vital to agree upon the contours of a future Afghan polity where Afghanistan becomes a stable and prosperous country and at peace with its neighbours, the statement said.

Khalilad arrived in Pakistan after extensive talks in Kabul as part of his efforts to arrange first ever direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, it said.

According to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's office, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani thanked Prime Minister Khan for facilitating the ongoing efforts for reconciliation in his country.

Ghani made a telephone call to Khan and discussed efforts for peace in Afghanistan, said a statement issued by Khan's office.

President Ghani expressed his "gratitude for Pakistan's sincere facilitation of these efforts" initiated by Khalilzad, it said.

President Ghani invited Khan to visit Afghanistan at his earliest convenience and the Prime Minister reciprocated by inviting Ghani to visit Pakistan.

Both leaders also agreed to remain engaged and create an environment for resolving all outstanding issues, it said.

According to US diplomatic officials in Pakistan, Khalilzad will be in Islamabad for one to four days. Khalilzad arrived in Pakistan two days later than expected.

Khalilzad is expected to meet Pakistan's civilian and military leaders during his stay and that he will ask Pakistan to help convince the Afghan Taliban to come back to the negotiation table, said Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Muhammad Faisal.

"Pakistan has also maintained we want an Afghan-led Afghan-owned solution to imbroglio," Faisal said.

The envoy's four-nation trip is expected to end on January 21.

Khalilzad will be accompanied by Deputy Assistant to the US president Lisa Curtis, who is considered as an expert on Afghan affairs, diplomatic sources said.

The US State Department said last week that Khalilzad was visiting India, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan from January 8 to seek the settlement of the Afghan problem.

He has already visited India and met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on January 10.

The US official was in Beijing this weekend and held talks with senior Chinese officials.

The Afghan peace initiative has been moving at a snail's pace due to refusal of the Taliban to sit for talks with the Afghan government officials.

According to officials, the US delegation will seek Pakistan's assistance for arranging talks between Kabul and Taliban to end more than 17-year-old conflict.

Pakistan has been playing a crucial role in the process and last year released senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar from imprisonment, who is reportedly in Qatar.

Baradar was deputy to the late Taliban supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar. He was arrested from Karachi in a joint Pakistan-US operation after reports that he was independently trying to conclude a deal with Afghan government.

India has been a key stakeholder in the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan. It sent two former diplomats in "non official" capacity to a conference on Afghan peace process in Moscow in November which was attended by a high-level Taliban delegation.

The conference organised by Russia was attended by representatives of Afghanistan as well as from several other countries including the US, Pakistan and China.

India has been maintaining a policy of not engaging with the Taliban and pressing for an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace initiative to bring peace and stability in the war-ravaged country.

Khalilzad visited Pakistan in October before flying to Doha, Qatar where he reportedly held talks with the Taliban representatives.