Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said there is no military solution to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan and warned that little progress would be made until all sides entered into peace talks, according to a Bloomberg report.
Abbasi voiced skepticism over US President Donald Trump's increase in troops to assist the Afghan security forces and said Islamabad was ready to help mediate talks with the Taliban, many of whom had been allegedly trained in Pakistan, Bloomberg reported.
"At the end of the day the Afghans have to sit down and talk," Abbasi said in an interview.
Relations between Pakistan and the US have become increasingly strained in the past year, with US President Donald Trump repeatedly accusing Pakistan of not taking enough action against insurgents and their safe havens in the country.
Trump said in a tweet on January 1 this year that the US was cutting aid to Pakistan as Islamabad gave "lies and deceit" in return for US funding.
Bloomberg however reported that Abbasi hit back at charges Pakistan is not doing enough to fight terrorism and said Islamabad recently handed over 27 Taliban prisoners to Afghanistan.
"These are Afghan nationals who were arrested inside Pakistan, they were not involved in a terror attack on us otherwise we would have prosecuted them here, so we handed them back to the Afghans," Abbasi said.
But the Afghan government rejected this claim and said no prisoner hand-over was made.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s The News reported that the Foreign Office spokesperson Muhammad Faisal has again reiterated that Islamabad supports all peace initiatives to resolve Afghanistan’s problems stating there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict.
Faisal, said in an interview with Radio Pakistan “all sorts of weapons and ammunition were used in Afghanistan during the last 70 years but no substantial achievement was made in achieving peace. Afghan and other issues can only be addressed through dialogue as a military solution has totally failed.”
The spokesman said Quadrilateral Consultative Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States is the most appropriate forum to help take the peace process forward.
“Pakistan's concern about Afghanistan’s issues should also be addressed,” the spokesman asserted.
About the possible outcome of the Kabul Process meeting next month, Faisal said it depends on the attitude of the Afghan government, The News reported.
He said there are issues such as the repatriation of Afghan refugees to their homeland - with dignity and honor - the exponential rise in drugs and poppy cultivation and the use of drug money to fuel the war that need to be resolved.
The Foreign Office spokesman’s statement comes after Trump last week ruled out talks with the Taliban, following a wave of deadly attacks in Kabul.