Pakistan helped secure peace talks with Taliban

Pakistan's military, long accused of harboring insurgents who fight its cause in Afghanistan and beyond, said its role in brokering landmark Taliban peace talks last week proves it is serious about tackling Islamist militancy in the region.

The heads of the army and Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency were personally involved in bringing about talks between the Afghan Taliban and Kabul government on July 8 near Islamabad, said two senior officials close to the process.

The negotiations were a tentative first step toward ending a war in neighboring Afghanistan that kills thousands of people each year as government forces fight Taliban insurgents whose hard-line Islamist regime was toppled in 2001.