A top Afghan Taliban delegation met Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan under the leadership of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top commander of the Taliban.

A PMO official told BBC Urdu Shehzad Malik that the Pakistan Army Chief also attended the meeting on Thursday afternoon.

Earlier, the delegation also met Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Pakistan Foreign Ministry office. The meeting was also attended by Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, the head of ISI, the Pakistani military's intelligence agency.

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that this Afghan Taliban political delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar discussed issues of mutual interest, including the Afghan peace process.

On the other hand, Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has expressed hope that Pakistan will persuade the Taliban for peace talks with Afghanistan.

In a conversation with Pakistani Ambassador Zahid Nasrullah Khan in Kabul on Wednesday, he said that if Pakistan can use its influence on the Taliban to persuade it to negotiate with the Afghan government, it will force efforts to establish peace in the country.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was jailed in Pakistan, was released by Pakistan after eight years of custody. He was arrested by security agencies from Karachi in 2010.

In the same year he was appointed head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar.

During this time Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is based on religious, cultural and historical relations. Whereas Afghanistan has been facing instability for the last 40 years.

"Pakistan sincerely believes that war is not the solution to any problem and dialogue is the only means of peace in Afghanistan," he said.

Qureshi said, "We are happy that today the world is supporting our stand on Afghanistan."

He said that Pakistan, assuming its responsibility, played an honest role in the Afghan peace process as a peaceful Afghanistan is essential for the stability of the entire region.

Qureshi said, "We want the parties concerned with the Afghan talks to move in this direction to pave the way for lasting peace and stability."

The Foreign Minister said that for the last several years Pakistan has been reminding the world not to ignore the political, economic, social and cultural ground reality of Afghanistan.

He said that a peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict would significantly reduce the incidents of violence in this entire region.

The Foreign Minister said that the current regional and international consensus for peace in Afghanistan has provided an unprecedented opportunity to be remembered.

He hoped that the halted Afghan peace talks would resume soon.

According to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry's statement, the Afghan Taliban's high-level delegation praised Pakistan's role in the Afghan peace process and agreed on the need for immediate resumption of dialogue between the parties concerned.

In Qatar, Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban's political office, told the BBC's Noor Nasir that the Taliban delegation included 11 senior members, including Mullah Baradar.

The visit of Taliban interlocutors is taking place at a time when Zilme Khalilzad, who was America's chief interlocutor in Afghanistan, is already present in Pakistan.

Zilme Khalilzad had recently met Prime Minister Imran Khan on a visit to USA. However, it is not clear whether he will meet Taliban leaders in Pakistan.

If this meeting happens, the US delegation will have its first meeting with the Taliban delegation on Pakistani soil.

The Taliban had earlier said that they would meet Prime Minister Imran Khan in Pakistan. Its spokesman Sohail Shaheen had said that the delegation would only meet top officials of Pakistan's Foreign Department on this visit.

During his US visit in July, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he would return and meet Taliban leaders and ask them to hold talks with the Afghan government.

In response, Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen told the BBC that if Prime Minister Imran Khan invited him, he would go to Pakistan and meet him.

This was not the first time that a Taliban delegation was asked to visit Pakistan for the Afghan peace process.

In February this year, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that a delegation from his office would visit Pakistan on 18 February, but the Taliban later said he was called to the United Nations.

In this connection, Prime Minister Imran Khan then said that he had postponed the meeting with Taliban leaders on the concerns of the Afghan government.

This is the Taliban delegation's fourth overseas visit since the ceasefire in Afghanistan and negotiations with the US began.

Earlier, this Taliban delegation has visited Russia, China and Iran. In September this year, US President Donald Trump announced the end of talks with the Taliban on Twitter.

Earlier, talks between the two sides had been going on for the past 11 months, but Trump suddenly ended the negotiations.

Mulla Baradar was arrested in 2010 during an operation in Karachi, Pakistan, and was released in 2018 after serving eight years in prison. This is his first visit to Pakistan since then.

Imran Khan recently said about him, "We have brought the Taliban to Qatar for talks with America."

According to sources, Pakistan had released Mullah Baradar at the request of the US so that he could play an important role in the negotiations.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was close to Taliban founder Mullah Omar and the number two in the top commander.

In a documentary by Al Jazeera journalist Carlota Bales, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that Mullah Baradar and several Taliban leaders were ready to negotiate with the Afghan government in 2010.

However, according to him, the US and Pakistan were not in favor of talks with him and Mulla Baradar was arrested only after that.

According to Karzai, he also opposed the arrest of Mullah Baradar.

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