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Published 02 Oct, 2011 10:09am

Afghanistan urges Pakistan to take steps for peace

KABUL: The Afghan government says it needs to see Pakistan make "tangible progress" on pledges to use its influence to help end the Taliban insurgency.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai told reporters in Kabul on Sunday that although Pakistan had said it would work to get Taliban leaders to the negotiating table, this has not happened.

"Afghanistan has invested a great amount of goodwill and political capital to create an atmosphere of trust and confidence and to try to improve relations with Pakistan over the past three years," Mosazai, told reporters in Kabul.

"Unfortunately, we have not been witness to the type of concrete progress that we were expecting - that was promised to us by our brothers and sisters in Pakistan," he added.

A series of meetings between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States has been suspended because of the fallout.

Mosazai's remarks come a day after President Hamid Karzai said he has given up trying to talk to the Taliban directly and that the key to ending the war is mediation by Pakistan.

Karzai is reviewing his strategy for making peace with the Taliban and will reveal the next steps “very soon,” Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for Karzai also said Sunday.

“All peace talks with the Taliban are suspended. The president will review the peace and reconciliation strategy,” Herawi told AFP.

The spokesman said Karzai was expected to announce a new strategy for peace efforts in a televised address “very soon.”

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