ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that reaching a peace settlement in neighboring Afghanistan will not be possible without Pakistan's help. Pakistan is crucial for US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan but it has been reluctant to hunt down Afghan militant factions which critics say it wants to use as leverage in any future set up in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karazi said in a recent interview with CNN that his government has had “unofficial contacts” with the Taliban for some time on securing peace in Afghanistan.“Nothing can be done without us because we are part of the solution, we are not part of the problem,” Gilani told reporters in comments broadcast on Pakistani television networks. Asked whether Pakistan had been consulted on contacts between Karzai's government and the Taliban, Gilani said: “When Mr. Karzai will share his roadmap with America, and Americans, and he share this with us, then we can comment.” Many senior Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to be in Pakistan. Afghan officials are sensitive to what they say is Pakistan's meddling in their neighbour's internal affairs. Pakistan officially abandoned support for Afghanistan's Taliban movement after joining the US-led war on terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.However, the Pentagon said on Thursday that some elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency had interactions with the insurgents that “may be seen as supporting terrorist groups rather than going after them.”
