News Analysis: Pakistan, Afghanistan set to put joint peace efforts back on track (2)

Pakistanis and Afghan leadership felt ignored in the U.S.- Taliban talks in Germany and Qatar and senior officials of the two countries in a series of recent talks agreed to revive the joint peace efforts to have a'say'in the Afghan dialogue process.

The two sides recently proposed visits of the top leadership to break the deadlock and as the first step, Prime Minister Gilani asked Foreign Minister Hina Rababni Khar to visit Kabul, an Afghan diplomat said.

The diplomat said Pakistan has proposed President Karzai's visit to Islamabad but Afghans wanted either Pakistani president or the prime minister to travel to Kabul.

Khar's Kabul visit, expected in a week, will pave the way for the resumption of the joint peace efforts, which will also enable both countries to get involved in the U.S.-Taliban dialogue process.

Afghan leaders has publicly criticized the U.S. secret talks with the Taliban and Pakistan has also conveyed its disappointment to Washington through diplomatic channels.

A Pakistani expert on Afghan affairs, Rahimullah Yousafzai, said that Pakistan will support the Taliban-U.S. dialogue if it is taken into custody. He said Pakistan has never opposed the dialogue process but it seems that Islamabad had not been fully on board of the current process.

He said the talks are now only focusing on the exchange of the prisoners and if the U.S. agree to free the prisoners, then the process could move forward.

Pakistani and Afghan officials say that the U.S. has now realized its'mistake'of 'ignoring' the two countries and the recent visit to the region by American special envoy Marc Gross was aimed at updating the two countries on what has happened so far in the U.S.-Taliban interaction. Pakistan snubbed the U.S. envoy and refused to receive him in Islamabad and Kabul had also conveyed its reservations over the solo flight of the Americans.

Revival of Pakistan-Afghanistan joint peace efforts is believed to be a positive sign for the two countries and now they are in a better position to play an effective role in the reconciliation process as Pakistan still has a deep influence on Afghan Taliban.