Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz has said that the Afghan Taliban leadership had taken up refuge in the country. “We have some influence on them because their leadership is in Pakistan, and they get some medical facilities; their families are here,” he said while speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington on Tuesday, AFP reported. This is the first time Pakistan has publicly admitted to sheltering Taliban members.

Most of these Taliban leaders are believed to be residing in Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi. Aziz further said his government uses their presence in the country as leverage to pressure the Afghan Taliban to participate in peace talks with Kabul, according to the CFR website. The foreign affairs advisor said Pakistan acted as a facilitator and was not the “actual negotiator” in the talks. “I hope as we go along, our sincerity in this task will be recognised,” he said.