WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): Afghanistan ’s Ambassador to the United States Hamdullah Mohib on Monday said Pakistan needed to update its policy, which had been stuck in the past.

Addressing a Washington audience, he said: “It's 2016 now. A different time from the 1970s and perhaps some of (Pakistani) policies are stuck in that era,” Mohib said at the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank.

In response to to a question on Af-Pak relationship, Mohib said the administration of President Ashraf Ghani, soon after coming to power, had reached out to Pakistan.

“If you remember the president paid a huge political cost,” he observed, regretting Ghani’s initiative did not work. For the past few decades,he said, the Afghans had been praying for peace.

“It's a desire of the people and something that the Afghan government is extremely committed to. We want to make peace,” the ambassador continued.

Describing former Taliban leader Mullah Mansour an impediment to peace, Mohib said the government’s doors were open for all sections of the Taliban for talks. “We have not closed the doors,” he maintained.

It was in the interest of Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbours to have peace and stability in the country, he believed. It would fuel the region’s economic development or at least put it on a faster pace, he argued.

Mohammad Taqi, a former columnist with Daily Times, alleged the Taliban and Haqqani network terrorists were living near Pakistani army townships, but Islamabad was not taking action against the groups.

Every time a Taliban leader tried to enter a peace process with the Afghan government, he was arrested or eliminated by Pakistan, he claimed.

Former Pakistani ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, said he did not think the Taliban were a reconcilable force, but the Pakistani government seemed to think so.

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