Pakistan invited to attend US-Taliban peace deal signing on Feb 29

ISLAMABAD: Qatar has invited Pakistan to attend the peace signing deal between the US and the Afghan Taliban to be held on February 29 in Doha.

The invitation was extended by the Qatari Ambassador to Pakistan Saqr Bin Mubarak, on behalf of the Qatari FM, during a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, Radio Pakistan reported.

In his remarks on the occasion, the foreign minister said Pakistan and Qatar have played a pivotal role in furthering the Afghan reconciliation process.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan welcomes the US-Taliban peace deal between the US and the Taliban. He said it has always been the stance of Pakistan that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict. He said the world is now also accepting Pakistan’s stance.

FM Qureshi expressed the confidence that the US-Taliban peace deal will lead to intra Afghan dialogue.

On February 21, Afghan Taliban and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had confirmed to hold successful dialogues leading to a US-Taliban peace deal for ending the decades-long war in Afghanistan.

Both sides have put conditions for creating a suitable security situation prior to signing an accord to pull US troops out of Afghanistan. Both sides have also discussed the implementation of another condition for releasing prisoners, whereas, the political parties will envisage a strategy for initiating intra-Afghanistan talks.