US should consult Taliban on any Afghan pullout delay: Pakistani envoy

Representative image/Credit: AFP Photo

The United States should consult the Taliban on any extension of the May 1 deadline for a full U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan and should not unilaterally decide to do so, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States said on Friday.

"The first party that needs to be consulted is the Taliban. That is where the process should start," Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan told an online forum sponsored by the Stimson Center thinktank. "To present this as a fait accompli, I think, will only create difficulty."