ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Wednesday that the first official face-to-face discussions between Afghan government officials and the Taliban have made progress, with the two sides agreeing at a meeting near Islamabad to work on confidence-building measures and hold more such talks after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The statement by the Foreign Ministry came after Islamabad hosted the landmark, one-day talks Tuesday at the hilltop resort of Murree, close to the Pakistani capital. The meeting, supervised by U.S. and Chinese representatives, ended with both sides agreeing to meet again, the Foreign Ministry statement said.
The talks came after several informal contacts between the Taliban and Afghan government representatives, most recently in Qatar and Norway. The fact that Tuesday’s talks were the first formally acknowledged by the Afghan government and the semi-public nature of the meeting suggested possible progress, after years of frustration in trying to bring the two sides together.
