ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has played the role of a facilitator in the Afghan peace process, not its guarantor, the Pakistani military said on Saturday, as fighting surges in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the US military withdrawal.
Pakistan has helped facilitate negotiations that resulted in a US-Taliban deal that resulted in the withdrawal and is believed to wield considerable influence with the Taliban. The US and the Kabul government have consistently pushed Islamabad to get the Taliban to agree to a peace plan.
"The Afghan peace process has many aspects where it should be understood that Pakistan was only a facilitator and not a guarantor in the process," Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar, director general of the military's media wing, said as quoted by the Associated Press of Pakistan.
He added that the peace process was "at a critical stage" and it was now the Afghan people to decide their future.
"Afghans have the capacity and capability to decide their future course themselves," Iftikhar said, adding that Pakistan had "no favorites" among the Afghan stakeholders.
"The decisions (are) to be taken by Afghans and they have to decide their leadership. In case of any deadlock, we can assist. Pakistan has made all-out efforts and could not exceed beyond limits."
Months-old peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to negotiate a political settlement in Afghanistan before foreign troops leave the country have been stalled by a diplomatic stalemate and escalating violence.
In the past week, the Taliban have overrun areas bordering five countries — Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China and Pakistan. The group has captured key border crossings through which Afghanistan conducts most of its trade with Iran and Turkmenistan, and on Friday claimed to be in control of 85 percent of Afghanistan.
US-led troops began their last phase of departure in May, almost halting their support for the Afghan forces that have relied on them since 2001, when they invaded the country and toppled the Taliban for protecting Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on America.
The US combat mission in Afghanistan is expected to end by Aug. 31.