Pakistan PM heads to Kabul to push peace efforts

30 Nov AFP

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Kabul on Saturday for talks with President Hamid Karzai as part of efforts to revive Afghanistan's peace process before NATO troops are withdrawn next year.

The one-day visit is Sharif's first since he took office in May and comes as Karzai is locked in a public dispute with Washington over a crucial security deal covering the role of US soldiers who remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Pakistan is seen as crucial to peace in neighbouring Afghanistan as it was a key backer of the hardline 1996-2001 Taliban regime in Kabul and is believed to shelter some of the movement's leaders. A week ago Sharif met a visiting delegation from the Afghan High Peace Council, which is seeking to open negotiations with the Taliban insurgents who have fought US-led NATO and Afghan forces since 2001.

Pakistan said it recently released former Taliban number two Mullah Baradar, who is seen by Kabul as important to bringing the militants to the negotiating table.

But militant sources have complained that Baradar is effectively still behind bars in Pakistan, and there has been no confirmation that the High Peace Council was able to meet with him during its visit.