By Ankit Panda
Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, could be back on in early 2016.
Stalled peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban could pick up early in the new year, according to officials from both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Reuters notes that the talks would pick up with Pakistan’s imprimatur and support, resuming a process that disintegrated late in the summer. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s cautious rapprochement with Pakistan floundered after his government accused Islamabad of backing Taliban militants in Pakistan in August 2015. The possibility of renewed peace talks suggest the relationship between Kabul and Islamabad has improved since that falling out.
In a particularly important high-level interaction between the two neighbors, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, General Raheel Sharif (no relation to the prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif), is slated to visit Kabul this week. General Sharif was in Washington in November where Afghanistan was a topic of discussion with his U.S interlocutors, who included U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. The United States supported the Pakistan-brokered peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban over the summer. China, Pakistan’s closest ally in the region, also supported the talks.
Read the full story at The Diplomat