Pakistan will back any Afghan-led peace process: Gilani

Islamabad: Pakistan desires a stable Afghanistan and will back any Afghan-led peace process, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said, on the eve of his visit to Qatar for talks on the reconciliation process in the neighbouring war-torn country.

"Pakistan has only one view we want a stable Afghanistan. It is in the interest of Pakistan. If there is any sort of political reconciliation in Afghanistan which is Afghan-owned and Afghan-led, we are ready to support that process," Gilani said durig an interaction with the media on the sidelines of an official function.

The premier was responding to a question on the talks he would hold during a two-day visit to Qatar, where the Afghan Taliban plan to open a political office.

Gilani is scheduled to travel to Doha with Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar tomorrow. Though the Afghan reconciliation process is not on the agenda of Gilani's visit to Qatar, the Qatari leadership is expected to brief him on their contacts with Taliban and the efforts by the militants to set up a political office there, officials have said.

Pakistan has been making efforts to ensure that it is not left out of any efforts to end the decade-long war in Afghanistan. Khar has said Islamabad would encourage militant groups like the Haqqani network or the Taliban to lay down their arms if asked by Kabul.

Gilani further said that Pakistan is part of a core group that includes Afghanistan and the US and this group too will continue to push for reconciliation as it is in the interest of Pakistan and the region.

"If the situation in our neighbouring countries is normal, then the situation in Pakistan will be normal. So we have an interest in the stability of Afghanistan," he said.