Pak dismisses Kabul’s Mullah Omar demand as ‘unrealistic’

Pakistan's foreign minister said Friday it would be “preposterous’’ for Afghanistan to expect Islamabad to deliver the Taliban’s leader to the negotiating table, as peace talks between the two countries ended with little progress.

Pakistan is seen as key to the peace process because Taliban chief Mullah Omar is believed to be based in the country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai raised the issue in a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, at delegation-level talks Thursday in Islamabad, on the sidelines of a trilateral summit meeting of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, reported.

Karzai’s language and tone flared to such an extent that Gilani halted a meeting of the full delegations of the two countries, the paper said quoting officials from both sides. Later, a smaller meeting took place with just top officials of the two countries.

At one point, apparently directing his remarks to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Karzai asked: “Would you be willing to stop girls studying in schools and university in Pakistan?” The Taliban, when it ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, stopped the education of girls.

At the trilateral summit Friday, Khar cautioned Kabul against expecting too much in terms of Pakistan providing access to the Taliban’s leaders.

“If you have unrealistic, almost ridiculous expectations, then you don’t have common ground,’’ said Khar. Khar said any expectation that Pakistan can deliver the Taliban’s chief for talks is “not only unrealistic, but preposterous.’’