Pakistan stepping up pressure on Afghan Taliban, says Mullah Zaeef

Salaam Times

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan is trying to pressure the Taliban to join the peace process in Afghanistan, according to Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, the Daily Times reported Monday (April 9).

Zaeef, a founder of the Taliban in 1994, was the group's ambassador to Islamabad before the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.

"Pakistan has increased pressure on the Taliban, but they will not accept what Pakistan wants them to do," Zaeef told the Pakistani newspaper by phone.

"Pakistan has detained some senior Taliban leaders at a time when efforts are under way in the region to encourage the Taliban to come to the negotiating table," he said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi welcomed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's new plan for peace with the Taliban when he visited Kabul Friday (April 6).

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