Internews/Islamabad

Adviser to the Pakistani prime minister on foreign affairs and national security, Sartaj Aziz, has said that Islamabad can host another round of Afghan reconciliation dialogue, if Kabul wants it to do so.
“We can host the second round only if Afghanistan wants us to facilitate,” Aziz said while briefing senate on key foreign policy issues yesterday.
“We can only facilitate, it has to be an Afghan initiative.”
Aziz had during his visit to Kabul earlier this month for attending Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan offered the Afghan leadership on the sidelines of the conference to help restart the process that got disrupted after it became public that Taliban chief
Mullah Omar was dead.
Pakistan hosted the first round of the talks between the Afghan government and Taliban on July 7 and was set to hold the second round on July 31 when the news about Mullah Omar’s death became public.
The disclosure forced the cancellation of the planned second round. But the subsequent uptick in Taliban violence in Afghanistan and succession dispute within the Taliban pushed the reconciliation effort into zone of uncertainty.
With the leadership issue now settled, it is likely that Taliban’s position on resumption of dialogue would become clear.
The adviser said that Pakistan was still waiting for the Afghan government’s response to its offer for facilitation.
During his meeting with Aziz in Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani had promised to respond to the offer for facilitating the resumption of the process after consulting his government allies and other political leaders.
Aziz said there were differences in Kabul over the reconciliation process. “Some support the dialogue while others oppose it,” he observed.
The Afghan government has looked supportive of the reconciliation process, but the disagreement, it looks, is on the Pakistan’s role.
The adviser’s assessment contrasted the US reading of the situation.