Foreign secretary of India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry held talks on Tuesday, ahead of the ministerial meeting of the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process in New Delhi, that will discuss the security situation and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan (HT, PTI). This is the first meeting between senior diplomats of India and Pakistan since the January attack on an Indian air base in Pathankot. The delegations are reported to have discussed ways to move forward the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue (CBD) that has been frozen since the attack. The statement by the Pakistani High Commission on the occasion said “All outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, were discussed.” This is also the first formal meeting between Jaishankar and Chaudhry after the announcement of CBD by the foreign ministers in Islamabad last December.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday that Pakistan is not solely responsible for bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table (Dawn). FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria stated that Pakistan condemns all forms of terrorism and faces violent extremism within its own borders. Zakaria placed responsibility on the entire quadrilateral group, which includes the United States, China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to bring peace to Afghanistan. This statement follows a speech given by Afghan president Ashraf Ghani on Monday threatening to make a formal complaint to the United Nations if Pakistan refuses to take military action against the Taliban. Following the FO spokesman’s statements, reports surfaced that an Afghan Taliban delegation is in Pakistan to negotiate.