[Tolo News] President Hamid Karzai's office on Monday said in a statement that the President had met with Mawlana Fazl Rahman, the head of Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, in Kabul twice over the course of Saturday and Sunday in hopes of gaining ground in peace negotiations with the Taliban."Mawlana's trip to Afghanistan was very important," said Mawlawi Shahzada Shahid, a spokesman for the High Peace Council (HPC). "Mawlana is a powerful cleric in Pakistan, and this was his first trip to Kabul since the Russian invasion."
Others are less hopeful that sit-downs between the Pakistani religious leader and Karzai will have a significant impact on the peace process. The Pakistani Taliban have even criticized Rahman's trip and asked him to provide details about his visits to Kabul.
Officials of Pakistan's Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have said that Rahman's visit to Afghanistan comes with respect for the struggle of the Afghan Taliban and their "sacrifice."
With Taliban elements in Pakistan condemning the trip and Rahman's own cohort qualifying it with overtures to the Afghan Taliban, it is no surprise that some are dubious of how productive discussions between Karzai and Rahman can be for the peace process."We shouldn't think that those who have made us suffer over the past three decades will bring us flowers, it's a waste of time and a self-deception," said MP Abdul Jabar Qahraman.
While some think it is absurd to have confidence in figures like Rahman because they have been in bed with the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan for so long, others have opposite reasoning yet come to the same conclusion. People like Waheed Mujda, and Afghan political expert, think Rahman is not close enough to the Afghan Taliban to affect Kabul's peace process in any notable way.
"If the goal of Afghanistan was to use Mawlana Fazl Rahman for peace, I think the government is wrong," Mujda said. "If Mawlana has any influence on the Taliban, he would first have an impact on the Pakistani Taliban."
Some Pakistani officials have said that Rahman traveled to Kabul through Dubai in an attempt to keep his departure hushed. They did not elaborate on whether or not this was because he may have faced resistance if it had been widely known that he was on his way to kabul.