DPA/Islamabad

Pakistan and Afghanistan will push for the revival of peace talks with Taliban rebels that were suspended this month after initial contact for the first time in more than a decade, officials in Islamabad said.
“Our priority of course is reconciliation,” Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz said as an Afghan delegation arrived in Islamabad to discuss the process.  
Scores of people were killed in recent Taliban attacks after the group’s new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, took over following the confirmation of his predecessor Mullah Omar’s death.
The latest surge in deadly violence has apparently thrown in doubts hopes of achieving peace after the first round of talks between Kabul and the Taliban was held in Pakistan in July.
It was the first-ever face-to-face contact between the two sides since the Taliban regime was driven out of power in 2001.
But a Pakistani intelligence official said efforts were underway to reset talks with the new Taliban leadership.
“The new guy had to prove a point ... and I think things will start falling into place soon,” the official said, explaining a possible reason behind the surge.   
The Afghan delegation is led by Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and also include intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil.
In Kabul, officials said the delegation would press Islamabad to rein in Afghan Taliban leaders allegedly operating out of the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reacted angrily against Pakistan after the latest attacks in and around Kabul killed scores of people and jolted his hopes for peace through negotiations.    
Adviser Aziz said Pakistan hoped to remove any “misunderstandings” during the talks. “They are frustrated obviously because bomb blasts and peace talks can’t go together,” he said.