“We don’t need anyone even Pakistan for Taliban talks”: US envoy said
The United States does not need Pakistan or any other country to facilitate its engagement with the Afghan Taliban, says US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West.
“To be honest, I don’t think we need a third country to facilitate our engagement with the Taliban,” said Mr. West when asked if Pakistan could facilitate their talks with Afghanistan’s current rulers.
“I am in very regular touch with the Taliban. There are other colleagues of mine in the US government who are also engaging. I think that dialogue needs to be direct. I don’t think we need a third country,” he added.
In an interview to the Voice of America’s Urdu broadcasting service, Mr. West also dismissed the suggestion that the United States needs Pakistan’s airspace to reach Afghanistan.
Instead of underlining Pakistan as the country that could persuade the Taliban to fulfil their commitments[militancy], the US envoy said the entire Muslim world had “an incredibly important and credible role” to play in engaging with the Afghans “with the Afghan women, with the Ulema as well as with the Taliban” to make this happen.
Mr. West pointed out that US envoys were already engaging with Indonesia, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others to achieve this target.
“We don’t need anyone even Pakistan for Taliban talks”: US envoy said
Asked if the US needed over-the-horizon access through Pakistan to Afghanistan, the US official answered “As we made clear, following our withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, we were going to, and we have reorganised our capabilities in the region to ensure that terrorists never threaten the United States or our allies ever again.”
The US drone strike that killed Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul earlier this year “makes clear that we have a capability to protect Americans anywhere in the world,” he added.
Mr. West said he held “intensive discussions” with the officials of a key partner state during his three-day stay in Islamabad “regarding our shared interests in Afghanistan”.
Asked why US President Joe Biden, in a recent statement, questioned the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, he said: “I have nothing more to say on that question for you”.
