Pakistan, US call for Taliban to restart Peace Talks

US President Barack Obama and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued a joint call for the Taliban to return to negotiation table with the Afghan government, as Obama announced his plan last week to keep 5,500 U.S. troops in the country indefinitely.

Sharif and Obama in a meeting at the White House called for the Taliban militants to do further effort for a continual peace in Afghanistan.

At the peak of Afghanistan distrust to Pakistan, Islamabad announces readiness for cooperation the Peace Talks process between the two sides.

Both leaders expressed their commitment to advance an Afghan-owned and led peace and reconciliation process” and called on the Taliban to initiate “direct talks” with the Afghan government.

The US sees Pakistan as one of the few states with influence over the extremists. The new Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour is believed to have close ties to Islamabad.

In their talks, Obama stressed to Sharif that Pakistan needed to take action against groups that undermine peaceful dialogue and want to ignite the region.

Sharif’s visit to the White House comes at a moment when the Taliban appears to be gaining ground in its long war with the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

Pakistan hosted the first round of the Afghan peace talks near the capital Islamabad on July 7 and the second round was scheduled to take place on July 31. However, the talks were postponed at the Taliban’s request as they had been focusing on transition after Mullah Omar’s death.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600- kilometer common border, with most of which considered as porous, and the militants routinely take advantage due to rugged mountains for their cross- border movement.