Pakistan admits mistakes were made towards Afghanistan in past: Report
Oct 01, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], October 1 : Pakistan has admitted that mistakes were made by the country's leadership in the past towards Afghanistan, adding that "they will not repeat them".
The remarks were made by Pakistani leadership during the visit of the Afghanistan delegation led by Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), to Pakistan, Tolo News reported.
Mohammad Umer Daudzai, President Ghani's special envoy for Pakistan, who accompanied Abdullah on the trip, said Islamabad does not have a clear stance on a ceasefire in Afghanistan.
"The (Pakistani) president rounded up (his remarks) and his remarks were that there were mistakes in the past and 'we will not repeat them,' peace is the priority and peace in Afghanistan is peace in Pakistan, security in Afghanistan is security in Pakistan," Daudzai told TOLOnews on Wednesday.
Abdullah met Pakistani President Arif Alvi on Wednesday, in which they discussed the Afghan peace process and the relations between the two neighbouring countries, as well as other current topics.
He also met with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday evening and discussed the peace process among other current topics, Abdullah's office statement read.
The visit to Pakistan, which recently had hosted Taliban high-level delegation, comes at a time when the Taliban and the Afghan government are in the midst of intra-Afghan peace talks that began earlier this month in Doha, Qatar.
The Afghan delegation said Pakistan has made assurances that it will help in the peace process and bring an end to the war by applying a different policy. The officials said they asked the Pakistani administration to convince the Taliban to show flexibility on the ceasefire.
"We want to see their practical cooperation as they pledged to work to cooperate in all sectors and in the peace process. We will see what role they will play in the peace process," said Ata-Ur-Rahman Salim, the deputy head of the High Council for National Reconciliation.
"They were saying that ways should be sought to agree on a reduction in violence, but they did not focus on a ceasefire," said Daudzai.
