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(REUTERS): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the Taliban to stay engaged in the Afghan peace process after the group announced to shun summits about Afghanistan until all foreign forces leave the country.
Talking to an international news agency, the Foreign Minister, who is on a trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said, “We will do whatever we can to convince them that it is in their national interest to remain engaged.”
The minister said delays to the withdrawal were always a possibility due to logistics but the Taliban had largely succeeded in their objective for foreign troops to withdraw and so they should show flexibility towards the new Sept 11 deadline.
“The troops will be out and a date has been given and the process starts on the 1st of May and goes on until the 11th of September so there is a definite time frame,” he said, adding that he believed the Taliban would benefit by remaining engaged in the process.
He also expressed the fear that violence could escalate if the peace process remains deadlocked, plunging Afghanistan into civil war and leading to an exodus of Afghans.
Commenting on the Pakistan-India relations, Qureshi said that Islamabad was ready to engage in direct dialogue with New Delhi once Jammu and Kashmir statehood was restored, which New Delhi in 2019 split into territories.
The United States said last week it would withdraw all troops by Sept 11 this year, later than a May 1 deadline set out by the previous Donald Trump administration last year after the two sides clinched a deal in Doha, Qatar.