(20 Jun 2013)
AP TELEVISION
1. Aizaz Ahmed Chudhary, spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign office, entering news conference
2. Wide of media
3. Wide of Chudhary at podium
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Aizaz Ahmed Chudhary, Pakistan foreign office spokesman:
"Our stance remains that it has to be an all-inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue. What's happening in Doha is a part of that reconciliation process. It is our hope and expectations that all stakeholders in Afghanistan will be part of that national reconciliation process."
5. Wide of briefing
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Aizaz Ahmed Chudhary, Pakistan foreign office spokesman:
"We extended facilitation to the Doha process. We think that that process is part of the larger reconciliation process, which in turn will help bring an end to the war and bring lasting peace to Afghanistan."
7. Pan from media to Chudhary
STORYLINE:
Pakistan said on Thursday it had "extended facilitation" to prospective peace talks in Doha between the Afghan Taliban and the United States.
Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary told journalists in Islamabad that Pakistan believes the process in Doha is "part of the larger reconciliation process, which in turn will help bring an end to the war and bring lasting peace to Afghanistan."
Earlier on Thursday a senior spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said the group were prepared to free a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture.
The move follows this week's official opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.
The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening peace talks, according to Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail.
He is a top Taliban figure and served as first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.
Chudhary said Pakistan's stance is that any peace talks have to be "an all-inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue".
"What's happening in Doha is a part of that reconciliation process. It is our hope and expectations that all stakeholders in Afghanistan will be part of that national reconciliation process," he added.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was earlier said to infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy.
On Wednesday he announced his government to be out of the peace talks, apparently angered by the way Kabul had been sidelined in the US-Taliban bid for rapprochement.
The Afghan president also suspended negotiations with the United States on a bilateral security agreement that would cover American troops who will remain behind after the final withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
