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Pakistan will continue to facilitate Afghan peace talks, says minister

Islamabad - Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif clarified that Afghan Taleban supreme leader Mullah Omar neither died nor was buried in Pakistan.

Pakistan will continue to facilitate Afghan peace talks without involving itself in the current controversy on succession to Mullah Mohammed Omar, Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammed Asif told the National Assembly on Friday.
The minister clarified that Afghan Taleban supreme leader Mullah Omar neither died nor was buried in Pakistan.
"I can confirm that Mullah Omar neither died nor was buried in Pakistan and his sons' statements are on record to support this," the defence minister said.
"Whether he died now or two years ago is another controversy which we do not wish to be a part of," Asif added.
The defence minister refuted Afghan spy agency's claims that the Afghan Taleban leader died in a hospital in Karachi. "He was neither in Karachi nor in Quetta," he said.
Further, he said Pakistan is only playing the role of a facilitator in talks between Afghan Taleban and the government in Kabul.
"We do not accept that we have a control on Taleban, we are only playing the role of a mediator," the minister said.
Asif further said that the US and Chinese officials are participating in the Pakistan-brokered peace talks as observers.
"We do not want to get involved in any rivalry in Taleban leadership," he said, adding Pakistan only wants the group's leadership to continue reconciliation process.
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