ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani and Afghan diplomats met in Islamabad on Monday to explore ways for cooperation that marks the revival of bilateral dialogue after a gap of nearly seven months, officials said.
Afghanistan had stopped meetings in November with Pakistan under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAAPS), an all inclusive mechanism between the two countries, which has five sub-groups, under which the two countries are in contact regarding various issues.
The APAPPS review meetings should be held quarterly but Kabul was seemingly upset at what they claimed Pakistan’s failure to hold a
conference of Pakistani and Afghan religious scholars to condemn violence in Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan accuses Kabul of non-cooperation in hold the conference alleging the Afghan leaders of not respond to Pakistan’s proposals for the conference.
Kabul wants Pakistani scholars to issue a decree similar to Islamabad’s “Paigham-e-Pakistan” that had declared suicide attacks in Pakistan anti-Islamic.
The Foreign Office said that Pakistani and Afghan officials agreed on “joint efforts for trust building and mutual cooperation for regional
peace.”
Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood led the Pakistani side while the Afghan delegation was headed by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Idrees Zaman.
“The two sides exchanged views on cooperation in politics, diplomacy, defense, intelligence and Afghan refugees and agreed to strengthen it further and reviewed the progress made in the matters decided between the two countries,” a Foreign Office statement said.
The Afghan delegation also met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who assured Pakistan’s support for peace in Afghanistan and the region, according to the Foreign Office.
“Both sides also agreed to promote high level contacts of the leadership of both countries,” the statement said.
The APAPPS was established in May 2018 to provide a comprehensive and structured framework for institutional bilateral engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan in diverse areas of cooperation.
The mechanism works through five Working Groups namely: Politico-Diplomatic; Military-to-Military Coordination; Intelligence
Cooperation; Economic and Refugees.
Pakistan’s former ambassador Asif Khan Durrani said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken the initiative to issue a policy statement on Afghanistan nearly a week before President Ghani’s phone call in which he had emphasized the importance of intra-Afghan dialogue and also condemned the Taliban’s spring offensive.
“Imran Khan’s statement was a message to the Taliban to sit on negotiations with the Afghan government,” Durrani told Arab News.
“Pakistan and Ghani believe that peace could return to Afghanistan through an inclusive process and no one could be excluded,” he said.
Senior journalist Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud said President Ghani has adopted a new approach and policy of rapprochement with Pakistan
which is also a key to the success of the peace process.
“I think Pakistan, Afghan government and the Americans should realize that lack of unity and a unified approach could sabotage the on-going talks between the US and the Taliban,” said Mehsud.
Thaw in relations: Pakistan, Afghanistan revive bilateral dialogue after 7 months
Thaw in relations: Pakistan, Afghanistan revive bilateral dialogue after 7 months
- Kabul had stopped the bilateral peace action plan talks in November last year
- The two sides agreed on joint efforts for trust building and mutual cooperation for regional peace, FO says
China’s mediation eases fighting between Pakistan, Afghanistan — sources
- China’s envoy shuttles between Pakistan and Afghanistan to mediate in conflict
- Gulf countries that mediated in the past embroiled in Middle East conflict
ISLAMABAD/BEIJING: Chinese mediation efforts, including a message from President Xi Jinping, have helped ease the worst fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, three Pakistani government officials said.
The officials said a meeting between the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif late last month included a message from Xi to cease hostilities.
Neither side has reported any Pakistani air strikes on Afghanistan in recent days and ground fighting along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border has tapered off, although daily clashes continue to be reported.
China has said it is in contact with both countries about ending hostilities but Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Sharif who has previously said there would not be any talks with the Taliban, did not respond to questions about Beijing’s efforts.
Pakistani security officials have said the military campaign will continue until desired goals were achieved, which was to prevent militant attacks in Pakistan launched from Afghan soil.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry and military did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Islamabad launched air strikes on Afghanistan on February 26, saying the Taliban were providing a safe haven to militants carrying out attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the charge and says militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.
The Chinese efforts came as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, who hosted talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan during previous clashes in October, have been embroiled in the war in the Middle East following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
“China’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Affairs is currently shuttling between the two countries to mediate, while Chinese embassies in both nations maintain close communication with the respective parties,” the Chinese foreign ministry told Reuters in an email.
“The most urgent task is to prevent the fighting from expanding and for the two countries to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.”
The foreign ministry added that Foreign Minister Wang Yi held telephone talks with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday to discuss the conflict.
China’s ambassador to Kabul, Zhao Xing, and the special envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi this week, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have said they inflicted heavy damage on the other in the conflict and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence. Reuters has not been able to verify the reports.
Beijing, a longtime Pakistani ally, has invested heavily in mines and minerals in both nations.
The investments include over $65 billion in road, rail and other development projects in Pakistan, part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative to expand land and sea trade routes to Europe and Africa.
