Hamid Karzai asks US not to deal with Pakistan on Afghanistan peace process

Former President of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has urged the United States not to deal with Pakistan while making efforts to initiate an inclusive peace process in the war-torn country.

Addressing a gathering marking the 90th death anniversary of Professor Dr Sayed Meer Bahauddin Majroh in Kabul, Tolonews quoted the Former President as saying, "We completely differentiate the fact that what the Afghan peace means and what is the issue between the US and Pakistan. Our country was devastated just because of foreign deals."

Former President Karzai said that in order to accelerate the peace process in Afghanistan, it is very important to take the neighbouring countries, especially Russia and China into confidence. He also added that the participation of the Afghan people is a primary concern here. "No angle of the peace process should be hidden from the people. Otherwise, Afghanistan would be devastated," the former President warned.

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"We should have our own national observation of the peace process from the beginning to the end and Afghans must be involved in peace at all stages and they should have the honour of the job. In the area where we are not involved and we do not own the job, the outcome will not be in our favour," Karzai said.

The former President also suggested that in order to bring the Taliban to a point of negotiation, the Afghan government should designate a national peace delegation.

For the past several years, Washington has been trying to persuade the Taliban to come to the negotiating table and formulate a peace process to end the 17-year-old conflict in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban claim that the presence of foreign troops in the war-torn nation was a hindrance to achieving long-lasting peace.

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