Pakistan, Afghanistan Leaders Meet to Jump-Start Taliban Talks

Nov. 30, 2013 8:16 a.m. ETPakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met on Saturday in Kabul in a bid to breathe life into attempts to open peace talks with the Afghan Taliban insurgency, just months ahead of a crucial political transition in Afghanistan.
In a midday press conference, Mr. Karzai said he and Mr. Sharif discussed “practical steps” to bring Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents to the negotiating table. The Taliban have so far refused to negotiate with Mr. Karzai, describing him as an American “puppet.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, left, visits with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul Saturday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

“Terrorism and extremism are a danger for both countries, and we discussed the shelters and havens which are present in the region, and we talked about how to put a stop to them,” Mr. Karzai said.
Afghanistan’s Taliban movement has long used Pakistani territory as a recruiting ground and safe haven, with its leaders believed to be based in Pakistani cities of Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi. The Pakistani government says the Pakistani Taliban, a separate group that is aligned with al Qaeda, retreat into Afghanistan’s poorly policed border areas to evade Pakistani troops.
Mr. Sharif’s visit, his first to Afghanistan since his government took office in June, was billed by Afghan and Pakistani officials as an effort to build on a delicate rapprochement between the two governments. The two leaders offered little in the way of specifics, but Mr. Sharif said Islamabad was interested in a stable Afghanistan, particularly ahead of an election in the spring of 2014 to elect a successor to Mr. Karzai, and the planned withdrawal of international combat forces at the end of next year.
“We stand at a threshold of a consequential year in Afghanistan’s history,” Mr. Sharif said at Saturday’s news conference. “In 2014, the Afghan people will take major steps toward becoming the masters of their own destinies.”
Added Mr. Sharif: “In our view, the key to sustainable peace in Afghanistan—2014 and beyond—is an inclusive political settlement.”
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul reached a nadir this spring when Afghan and Pakistani troops traded gunfire near a controversial border outpost built by Pakistan. Nationalistic rhetoric continued for months after, as Afghan and Pakistani officials exchanged accusations about militant groups operating on both sides of the British-drawn boundary between the two countries.
Cross-border tensions surfaced once again on the eve of Mr. Sharif’s visit. On Saturday, Gov. Shujaul Mulk Jalala Khan of Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province said Pakistani troops had fired mortars into the Shultan valley of the province’s Shigal district, a mountainous area bordering Pakistan. While Gov. Khan said the shelling caused no casualties, he added: “We don’t understand whether this is the policy of Pakistan’s central government, or the policy of the Pakistani military.”
Pakistan’s military and intelligence establishment still exercise heavy control over Islamabad’s foreign policy. But Mr. Sharif, who came to office on a pledge to restore confidence in Pakistan’s shaky economy, recently made a move to bolster civilian control over the military. On Wednesday he appointed Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif as the new army chief, an unexpected appointment that defied the wishes of the previous army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul took a positive turn in August, when Mr. Karzai extended a visit with Mr. Sharif, raising hopes of a new opening to the Afghan Taliban. A U.S.-brokered attempt this summer to bring the Afghan Taliban into talks with Kabul in the Gulf emirate of Qatar collapsed after Mr. Karzai was infuriated by the Taliban office’s trappings of a government-in-exile.
Afghan officials have also pushed for the release of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s former second-in-command, who has been in Pakistani custody since his arrest in 2010, to open a potential negotiating channel. Mr. Sharif said Saturday he would discuss access to Mr. Baradar with the Afghan president.
Afghan officials were angered that Mr. Baradar was sedated and unable to communicate when an Afghan peace delegation visited Karachi to see him earlier in November.
“We will discuss this matter at length today, and we jointly have agreed on a mechanism and we will see that it is properly implemented,” Mr. Sharif said. “Anybody who is sent by the president to Pakistan to talk to Mullah Baradar, we will carry out the instructions given to us by the president and will make sure that such meetings will take place.”
Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com

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