Pakistan announces support to Afghan peace talks

KABUL: In what appears to be efforts to repair the strained ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the officials of both countries on Saturday agreed that the Taliban should utilise the timely and new peace offer made by Kabul.

Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Lt General (retd) Nasser Janjua, who was on one-day visit to Kabul, held meetings with numerous Afghan officials in the Afghan capital.

In a tweet on Sunday, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah shared details of his meeting with Janjua.

Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah met Nasser Janjua National Security Advisor of #Pakistan. They discussed inter-state dialogues for improvement of relations between the 2 countries, support for the Afghan Peace Process and the timely & new peace offer that Taliban should utilize. pic.twitter.com/HYwLScQkan

— Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) March 18, 2018

The duo discussed inter-state dialogues for improvement of relations between the two countries, besides support for the Afghan Peace Process.

In another tweet, President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani extended an official invitation to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to visit Afghanistan.

He said that the invitation would initiate state-to-state comprehensive dialogue between the two countries.

Ghani made this tweet following a meeting between delegations of two countries. The Pakistani delegations led by Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua expressed its strong support for the Afghan government’s peace offer to Taliban saying Islamabad is committed to cooperation in this regard.

Islamabad’s relations with Kabul have deteriorated in the past three years over allegations that Pakistan covertly support the Taliban insurgency. Pakistan categorically denies the charges.

Previously on February 3, a high-level dialogue on Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity was held in Kabul.

The Pakistani delegation, comprising senior civilian and military officials, was led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua while Afghan delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai in the discussion.

The Pakistani foreign secretary in her speech said the both sides should engage in concrete cooperation instead of blame game.

In a press release later, the foreign office told media that the meeting was held in a cordial environment and both delegations made some progress on the action plan for peace and solidarity between the two countries.