ISLAMABAD - The two-day conference on Afghanistan concluded here Tuesday with the note that until and unless all foreign forces including the US troops in Afghanistan withdraw prospects of durable peace and stability in the region would remain elusive.
The concluding session of the conference organized by 'Fikr-o-Amal' was chaired by the Speaker of National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq was addressed by Chief of JUI (S) and President Difa-e-Pakistan Council Maulana Samiul Haq, JUI (F) Chief Maulana Fazl urRehman, JI Chief Maunawar Hassan, ANP central leader Afrasyab Khatta and PTI central leader Shah Memnood Qureshi.
Addressing the conference, Maulana Samiul Haq said that Tehreek-i-Talban Pakistan (TTP) was ready to hold dialogue with the government but the air strikes in the FATA region sabotaged the process.
He said that the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on December 29, 2013 had requested him to initiate peace talk with TTP. "I had requested that if he assures to an end to drone attacks and pulling the country out of the US war then I am ready to hold talks with Taliban but he refused to accept the conditions. However, despite this I contacted with the Taliban," he said. 
He said on the PM's persuasion, he contacted the Taliban leadership who, according to him, showed their eagerness to hold objective and meaningful dialogue. He added he tried to contact the Prime Minister to apprise him the outcome of his contact but he was not allowed to meet him from January 03 to 15 and later air-strikes was carried out in the tribal areas which had spoiled the atmosphere which was developed for the talks.
Maulana Samiul Haq pointed out that some of the forces stopped the Prime Minister to initiate peace talks with TTP. He said those who are opposing talks with TTP wanted to see the Pak army soldiers die in uncalled for war.
The JUI-S leader said that the Afghan problem could only be solved if Afghan elites and Afghan resistance groups sit on a negotiation table. He said he had asked the Afghan president Hamid Karzai to establish contacts with Taliban and he will perform his role to carving a soft corner in their hearts. He said war of independence is being fought in Afghanistan and the sacrifices lay down by the people over there would not go in vain; a day will come when Afghanistan will definitely get liberation.
The JUI-S leader said that they had requested the then president Pervez Musharraf not to indulge in Afghanistan war but he jumped into it which led the country to the battle causing billions of rupees losses and taking lives of thousands of innocent people. He said the time has come to come out of the US war. He expressed his fear that if the operation was started in Waziristan it will cause Taliban to spread over the entire country.  He dispelled the impression that Taliban do not accept the constitution of Pakistan. He called upon the solution of the present state of affairs only through holding dialogue.
JUI (F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while addressing the conference, said that Pakistan cannot remain indifferent to the situation in Afghanistan adding that the developments happen in Afghanistan, FATA and Khyber Pakhtukhwa have worldwide implications.
He believed that Pakistan will have to take decisions not only keeping in view the internal factors of security but also by taking into account the regional situation.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan, while addressing the conference, said that peace in Afghanistan and the region would remain elusive as long as US withdraws its all troops from Afghanistan.
He said that the US wants to keep its troops beyond 2014 out of its fear that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden would re-emerge in Afghanistan the day US forces exit the war-torn country. 
Commenting on the pullout of foreign troops, the JI chief remarked that Afghanistan has become the "graveyard of science and technology" for the West.
"People like the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden do not die but stay alive in the hearts of people", he said adding that death of the al Qaeda leader was considered a big victory for 60 per cent of the countries around the world, but the US is afraid that bin Laden will come back alive after the withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamat-i-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said that Qazi Husain Ahmed was a symbol of unity and we are all gathered on the platform he had constituted, finding solution to the Afghan war. He said peace in Afghanistan is must for the existence of peace in Pakistan. The US is losing the war, he pointed out, the CIA had used Dr Shakeel Afridi in the phony polio campaign for his heinous designs, thus putting the polio drive in FATA at stake.
Central leader of Awami National Party, Afrasiab Khattak said that Afghanistan has come out of 80s and 90s era and it was no more the land to be ruled over by Taliban as the deep roots of ideological conflict do not exist there.
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