Pakistan to continue playing its role for peace in Afghanistan: Tehmina Janjua

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua on Wednesday said Pakistan was part of every talks which had link with peace in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan will continue playing its role for peace in Afghanistan,” Tehmina Janjua said, while replying to a journalist’s question about Pakistan’s role in talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban in Qatar, during an event in Islamabad.

She said Pakistan was a pillar of China’s foreign policy and China a pillar of Pakistan’s foreign policy.

The foreign secretary said strategic relations between Pakistan and China were crucial for geostrategic balance in the region.

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on Saturday said the United States was ready to address “legitimate concerns of all Afghan sides” as it wanted peace in the war-ravaged country.

Zalmay Khalilzad concluded the confusion on America’s fighting Afghan Taliban and at the same time holding peace talks with them by saying, “I see that many are concerned that the United States is willing to both talk and fight. Let me be clear: the US wants peace.”

He tweeted: “To achieve peace, we are ready to address legitimate concerns of all Afghan sides in a process that ensures Afghan independence and sovereignty, and accounts for legitimate interests of regional states.”

The US special represetative for Afghanistan reconciliation said that it was urgent that the fighting end. “But pursuing peace still means we fight as needed.”