Pakistan Army and International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) held a preliminary meeting on Saturday, a day ahead of Tripartite Commission's regular meeting. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that talks focused on operations and co-ordination in border areas to avoid any untoward incident. An Isaf delegation, led by General John Allen, Commander Isaf who arrived here Saturday took part in a bilateral meeting just before the Tripartite Commission's parleys.
This is the second official meeting between the strategic allies after November 26 Salala attack to be held under Tripartite Commission, which oversees the working of Border Co-ordination Centres (BCCs) at Pak-Afghan border, jointly administered by Pakistan, Afghanistan and Isaf.
Pakistan Army delegation was led by Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, while, General Sher Muhammad Karimi, Chief of General Staff of Afghan National Army headed the Afghan delegation. Sources said Isaf Air Operations Head in Afghanistan Major General Tod Wolters, Intelligence Head Isaf Brigadier General Robert Ashley and Deputy Commander Isaf Adrian Bradshaw are included in the delegation.
Corps Commander Rawalpindi Lieutenant General Khalid Nawaz Khan, Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Khalid Rabbani and Director General Military Operations Major General Ishfaq Nadeem are assisting General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in the talks. While Pakistan's efforts for resumption of logistic supplies to Nato in Afghanistan remain stalled due to deadlock between Islamabad and Washington on key strategic matters, the military commands of the three countries have slowly inched to mend fences for restoration of border co-operation suspended after Salala incident.
The three military establishments had met last February as part of the tripartite engagement to discuss border co-ordination procedure. The event followed the arrival of General John Allen and Central Command (Centcom) Chief General Mattis in Pakistan to hold a crucial meeting with Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in March this year apparently to discuss Salala incident inquiry. While Pakistan and the US may get some ground-sharing on the apology issue, the deadlock over the CIA run drone campaign in Pakistan is likely to stay persistent.
The meeting comes after Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hinted on Friday that Pakistan could miss out on the important Nato summit in Chicago if it fails to reopen supply routes in time. The conference in will map out a future strategy for Afghanistan after most of the foreign troops withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of 2014.
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