Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is likely to hold talks with Afghan Taliban top representatives in an effort to put an end to 17-year-old Afghanistan civil war, during his visit to Pakistan scheduled to start on Sunday, a Pakistani government source said.
According to Reuters news reports, Islamabad has been playing its crucial role in the Afghan peace process, which had gathered momentum in some recent months amid growing in US withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
Along with other nations, Saudi Arabia has been a part of the peace effort negotiation and was also seen to have some influence over Afghan Taliban militant groups due to Saudi’s historical relations with the hardline Islamist group.
Two senior Pak officials said Salman was likely to meet with the Afghan Taliban envoy in Islamabad, where the militant forces fighting to restore its strict Islamic rule in Afghan after their ouster in 2001, and said they are due to hold dialogues with the US envoy and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
One of Pakistani official in Islamabad said: “Though it is top secret so far, there are strong indications representatives of the Afghan Taliban will meet Prince Salman during their visit of Pakistan on February 18.”
In Qatar, a senior Taliban leader said there was no decision made over whether they would meet with Salman.
The Taliban representative said, “Actually meeting Prince Salman is not in the plan so far but we can discuss it when we are in Islamabad.”
Salman was expected to stay to leave in Islamabad on Monday after signing drafted investment agreements in their energy sector worth more than $10 billion.