Taliban send high-level delegation to Islamabad

The Taliban have sent a high-level delegation to Pakistan’s capital as part of a tour that has included Russia, China and Iran in a push for support to resurrect a peace deal with Washington that seemed imminent just one month ago.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen says in a tweet that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and head of their political office in Qatar, will lead the delegation during talks in Pakistan.

Wednesday’s visit to Islamabad comes weeks after President Donald Trump announced that Washington’s talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan are “dead.”

Since then, Pakistan has been urging Washington to resume talks on ending nearly 18 years of fighting.