Pakistan worried about security vacuum in Afghanistan

With another round of intra-Afghan talks is scheduled to begin in next couple of days, Pakistan does not seem hopeful of a breakthrough, reinforcing its worry about a security vacuum in Afghanistan after pullout by United States, local media reported.

Officials in Islamabad are worried as the already dim prospects of successful reconciliation between warring Afghan groups are growing dimmer with every passing day, Dawn reported.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while talking to Speaker of Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga Mir Rahman Rahmani on Tuesday, urged the Afghan groups to "seize this historic opportunity and work out an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region," according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office.

The fears of a security vacuum have been growing because of the stalemate in the peace process.

The peace dialogue has made little progress since it started in September last year except for an understanding on the principles and procedures, which too was achieved after haggling for months over minor issues.

It further reported that the impasse got deeper this year after President Joe Biden, soon after taking office, ordered a review of the US-Taliban agreement of 2019 and subsequently set September 11 as the deadline for withdrawal of all US forces.

Several efforts were made by Pakistan and the international community to push both sides to return to negotiation table to settle the remaining outstanding issues for ending the conflict, but none of the efforts has succeeded so far.

Pakistan, among other things, quietly pushed for a transitional government in Afghanistan, according to an official, who asked not to be named. However, the idea could not catch on due to strong resistance by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

( With inputs from ANI )