ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has urged Afghan Taliban to negotiate a peaceful resolution to its conflict with the Kabul government.
“They (the Taliban) must come to the table and they must resolve this dispute through talks and negotiations. War is never a solution,” Khan said in an interview with Voice of America (VOA).
Khan added: “In fact, war leads to unintended consequences just like in Iraq and Syria.
“Now you see the emergence of ISIS or Daesh, and God knows where this is going to go. This is a direct result of that insane US invasion of Iraq,” he said, using an acronym for the terrorist group.
The PTI chairman further said some representatives of the Afghan Taliban, a few years ago, had approached him for assistance because they wanted to open peace negotiations with the then Afghan government.
But he said he believes the US persistently relied on military power to defeat the insurgency, effectively discouraging the Taliban from seeking political reconciliation.
“Now, when they (Taliban) think the Americans are leaving they are now obviously pushing for a much harder bargain. They are not willing to accept the terms they would have accepted then,” Khan said.
Khan praised a recently launched four-nation peace process, involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, trying to resurrect direct peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
