Pakistan asks Taliban to ‘remain engaged’ in Afghan peace process

Islamabad urges Taliban to stay engaged after group said it would shun Afghan summits until all foreign forces leave.

Pakistan has urged the Taliban to remain engaged in the Afghan peace process after the armed group said it would now shun summits about Afghanistan until all foreign forces leave. The decision was taken after the United States said last week it would withdraw all troops by September 11 this year, later than a May 1 deadline set out by the previous administration. “They take their own decisions but we will do whatever we can to convince them that it is in their national interest to remain engaged,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said of the Taliban in an interview with Reuters news agency in Abu Dhabi.