Pakistan army chief repeats support for Afghan peace ahead of Eid truce

General Qamar Javed Bajwa reiterates Islamabad’s support for peace process to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, as Taliban and government declare a three-day ceasefire.

The Pakistani army chief has offered Islamabad’s support for the Afghanistan peace process in a meeting with President Ashraf Ghania in Kabul amid growing violence as the United States withdraws its troops.

Pakistani Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa reiterated to Ghani that “a peaceful Afghanistan means a peaceful region in general and a peaceful Pakistan in particular,” a Pakistani military statement said on Monday.

“We will always support ‘Afghan led-Afghan owned’ Peace Process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders,” it said.

Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff General Nicholas Patrick Carter also attended the meeting.

Britain still has troops in Afghanistan in a war that started with the overthrow of a Taliban government following the 2001 attacks by militants in the United States.