Pakistan on Thursday welcomed the announcement of the resumption of the stalled talks between the US and the Taliban.
The US State Department on Wednesday said America will shortly resume talks with the Taliban.
The US negotiator on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, will head to Qatar to "rejoin talks with the Taliban to discuss steps that could lead to intra-Afghan negotiations and a peaceful settlement of the war, specifically a reduction in violence that leads to a ceasefire," it said in a statement in Washington.
The development came three months after President Donald Trump abruptly called off peace talks with the insurgents in September after a US soldier was killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday said, "We hope that it (the talks) will lead to intra-Afghan negotiations and ultimately to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Pakistan encourages all parties to the conflict to engage constructively as a shared responsibility."
It said Pakistan always maintained that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
"An inclusive peace and reconciliation process, involving all segments of the Afghan society, is the only practical way forward," the Foreign Office said.
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Last week, Trump revealed that the US and the Afghan Taliban have resumed peace talks as he made his first visit to the war-torn country on an unannounced trip to meet American soldiers for the Thanksgiving holiday.
His secretive visit to Afghanistan came a week after a prisoner swap with the Taliban aimed at resuming peace negotiations to end the 18-year-long war. As part of the swap deal, the Taliban freed two Western academics who had been held hostage since 2016 - American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks - in exchange for three imprisoned senior militants.
Trump said the terms of the deal would have to include a Taliban ceasefire.
The Express Tribune reported that Pakistan played a key part role in bringing the Taliban and the US on the table to resume the dialogue process in Doha later this week.
Khalilzad, on his way to Doha, made a surprise stopover in Kabul on Wednesday to take the Afghan government into confidence over Washington's decision to restart the stalled peace process.
A statement issued by the US State Department said Khalilzad's visit to Kabul was a follow up on President Trump's recent visit to Afghanistan and to discuss the way forward in already accelerated efforts to get all parties to the intra-Afghan negotiations.
"In Doha, Ambassador Khalilzad will rejoin talks with the Taliban to discuss steps that could lead to intra-Afghan negotiations and a peaceful settlement of the war, specifically a reduction in violence that leads to a ceasefire," the statement said.
The resumption of talks was on the cards since the US and Taliban have been talking to each other informally.
In September, the two sides were close to signing a peace deal but Trump pulled out of the process at the last minute citing Taliban's continued attacks targeting the American soldiers.
Before pulling the plug, Trump was scheduled to hold a secret meeting with the Afghan Taliban delegation at the Camp David. He, however, cancelled what would have been an unprecedented meeting just on the eve of anniversary of 9/11 attacks, which Washington said planned and originated from Afghanistan.
The reason Trump had a second thought of signing peace deal was the criticism he faced both at home and even from the Afghan government that the Taliban had offered little concessions in return of US agreeing to withdraw troops.
Pakistan, which facilitated the nine-month-long painstaking peace process in Doha, has pushed for the resumption of talks since it believes that use of force by either side would not resolve the lingering conflict, the Express Tribune reported.
In October, Pakistan hosted the Afghan Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. It also arranged a meeting between the US special envoy and the visiting Taliban delegation.
Though there no details were shared by either side of the meeting held in Islamabad, sources familiar with the development said the focus of discussion on the ceasefire or at least reduction of violence by all sides.
Sources said some progress was made during the informal talks between Taliban and the US on the issue of reduction in violence.
Taliban throughout the peace process have maintained that they would discuss the ceasefire and intra-Afghan dialogue only once their deal with the US is finalised.
Pakistan as well as other players, including China, have been trying to persuade the Taliban to show flexibility in their approach, the report said.
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