Qureshi meets Afghan President Ghani, discusses bilateral ties

After assuming charge as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister this is Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s first foreign visit. (Photo courtesy: Foreign Office)
Updated 15 September 2018
Follow

Qureshi meets Afghan President Ghani, discusses bilateral ties

  • In Kabul Pakistan and Afghanistan celebrate improved relations
  • Qureshi stresses importance of working together

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met President Ashraf Ghani, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and a coterie of other officials during his one-day visit on Saturday.
Delegation-level talks covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as peace and security, Pakistan’s state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Qureshi also held a meeting with Rabbani.
“Talking to his Afghan counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi stressed that Pakistan and Afghanistan will have to work together to meet the common challenges,” Radio Pakistan said.
Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr. Mohammad Faisal confirmed that Qureshi’s “first foreign visit abroad” would underline the importance that Pakistan’s government attaches to working closely with Afghanistan “for regional peace and stability.”
He added that the successful outcome of the visit could lead future efforts in enhancing bilateral cooperation as well. The Pakistani delegation is also expected to discuss the factors that led to the closure of Pakistan’s consulate in Jalalabad city earlier this month.
Both Rabbani and Qureshi, during a call last month, appreciated the recent improvement in relations between the two countries since the launch of the Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) in May this year.
“The two leaders agreed that the next round of APAPPS would be soon held in Islamabad. They also welcomed plans to hold a joint Pak-Afghan Ulema conference in Islamabad, the dates for which are being finalized,” a statement from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said.


Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea

Updated 19 December 2025
Follow

Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea

  • Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
  • Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy

ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off ​Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.

The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken ‌to a ‌temporary facility on the nearby ‌island ⁠of ​Crete after ‌reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.

In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two ⁠migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard ‌said.

Greece was on the front ‍line of a 2015-16 ‍migration crisis when more than a million people ‍from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.

Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete ​and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise ⁠in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.

Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.

The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum ‌seekers will be a priority.