Staff Reporter
Rawalpindi
Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Kabul on Tuesday on a one-day visit where he held talks with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of High Council for National reconciliation
Abdullah Abdullah.
According to the ISPR, the two leaders discussed bilateral issues, border management and the Afghan peace process during their meeting. The army chief was accompanied by Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid and Pakistan’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq on his visit to Afghanistan.
The visit by Chief of Army Staff Gen Bajwa follows a meeting with US Afghan envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Sunday. According to the military’s media wing, during the meeting “matters of mutual interest” as well as the overall regional security situation came under discussion. This included an exchange on “Afghan refugees issue and the Afghan reconciliation process”, a statement from the ISPR read. The two had also discussed the Pak-Afghan border management.
“Both shared steps taken in this regard and agreed to continue working towards mutually agreed goals,” the statement concluded. This is the first visit to Kabul by a high-ranking Pakistani official since Ghani’s second term in office began. It comes ahead of the imminent intra-Afghan talks and only two days after US President Donald Trump’s point man for Afghanistan held talks with General Bajwa to discuss the next steps for advancing the peace process that has moved slowly since the landmark deal signed between the US and Afghan Taliban on February 29.
The bilateral relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan is often marred by deep mistrust, but General Bajwa’s visit implies a positive development between the neighbouring countries going forward, as well as progress in the peace process.
On Monday, Khalilzad had also met with a Taliban delegation in Qatar, which was highlighted as another development in the progress with sources claiming that the intra-Afghan talks are expected to take place by the end of this month.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the dialogue will likely happen virtually but recent developments suggest all parties are working towards stabilising the conflict.
No date has yet been set for negotiations but Washington’s peace envoy is currently crisscrossing the region in efforts advance the U.S.-Taliban accord signed earlier this year.
