By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 5,Reuter: Pakistan will have an open mind at United Nations sponsored Afghan peace talks resuming in Geneva on Monday, Foreign Minister Sahabada Yaqub Khan. Said on Saturday.
‘The official APP news agency quoted him as telling reporters before leaving for Geneva that Pakistan was “determined to leave no avenue unexplored” for a settlement of the nine year old conflict in neighboring Afghanistan.
Buta leading opposition politician returning from a rare trip to ‘Afghanistan doubted the sincerity of President Mohammad ZiaulHaq’s government and said Islamabad was under U.S. pressure not to reach a settlement.
Asghar Khan, who leads the Tehrik-I-Istiqlal party, told a news conference here he was convinced from his talks with Afghan leaders this week that they wanted to solve the problem and were ready to be “The United States is in no mood to solve it and we (Pakistan) are being used for this unholy purpose”.
Yaqub Khan said Pakistan Was “consious of the need for an early fair and equitable settlement of the ‘Afghanistan issue and would participate in the Geneva round of the proximity talks with an open mind”.
A settlement at the talks, conducted by an U.N, mediator shutting between the two delegations, is blocked mainly by differences on a timetable for withdrawing an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan.
A senior Soviet diplomat in Islamabad told Reuters earlier this week that Kabul, which asked for the September 79 session at Geneva, might offer a reduced period for the pullout than the 18 ‘months it proposed in March.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 11, 1987
