ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan’s chief peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah has ended a three-day visit to Pakistan. He says he’s optimistic the uneasy neighbors have turned a corner away from a relationship marked by suspicion and downright hostility toward a partnership for peace in the region. In an interview Wednesday, Abdullah said he asked Pakistan’s powerful military to use its influence to press the Taliban into a reduction of violence. Abdullah’s first visit to Pakistan in 12 years comes at a crucial time for Afghanistan as government negotiators sit across the table from the Taliban in the Middle Eastern State of Qatar to plot a future course for a post-war Afghanistan.
