Pakistan eagerly awaits intra-Afghan dialogue, thankful for Russia's role - Ambassador

On February 29, the United States and the Taliban signed a peace agreement following months of talks. Its main premises are the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and the launch of intra-Afghan peace talks, subject to a mutual exchange of prisoners. In mid-May, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his longtime rival, Abdullah Abdullah, inked a power-sharing deal.

"Now the next step, which we are eagerly awaiting, is the intra-Afghan dialogue. That is something we all hope for and encourage ... On this issue also we have good communication with the Russian government and we respect their position, the way Russia is contributing to settling regional disputes in so many different parts of the world. We are very satisfied with and really applaud Russia's positive role in this domain" Khan said.

Russia has hosted a series of talks between Taliban and Afghan diplomatic representatives in Moscow over recent years.
According to the diplomat, both Pakistan and Russia share interest in an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process and wanted to see peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

"From specifically Pakistan's perspective, I want to emphasize one point that no country has suffered more because of the turbulence in Afghanistan than Pakistan, frankly. And no countries going to gain more than Pakistan from a settlement in Afghanistan," the ambassador said.

Pakistan's northern neighbor Afghanistan has seen decades of turmoil at the hands of the Taliban insurgency against the US-backed Kabul government and the US-led foreign forces in the country. Pakistan is, on par with Iran, the main host for Afghan refugees and its border regions have suffered from spillovers of violence.