Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would pay a day long visit to Kabul on April 6 holding talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other senior leadership on bilateral issues as well as the proposed plan for peace talks with Taliban and other
warring groups. Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal confirmed that the prime minister will be visiting Kabul on the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to hold talks on issues of mutual importance and the Afghan reconciliation process.
Last month after the series of deadliest terrorist attacks in Kabul, President Ghani offered unconditional peace talks to Taliban and the possibility of political recognition during an international conference in Kabul on April 28. During the visit of National Security Adviser Lieutenant-General Nasser Khan Janjua (retd) to Kabul on March 18, the Afghan president requested Pakistan to help his country winning war on terror and invited PM Abbasi to visit Kabul for the purpose.
"We would reiterate our strong commitment to peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as our possible role to facilitate the President Ghani's peace plan, as we believe that only through political reconciliation...", said a senior diplomat. He said the prime minister in his talks with the Afghan leadership would also discus the issue of border management, an important factor to effectively check the cross border terrorist movement.
He said the prime minister would also urge the Afghan leadership to take action against outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) militants using Afghan soil for terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. Prime Minister Abbasi would be accompanied by senior officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as top military officials. The visit comes at a time when the two countries exchanged allegations of cross border attacks that led to summoning of each other's top diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul.
According to Foreign Office spokesperson, Pakistan on Thursday handed over a dossier to Afghanistan containing evidence of the involvement of Afghanistan based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the suicide bombing at a Pakistan Army unit in Swat and the presence of TTP, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and other terrorist groups' hideouts in Afghan territory.
"The Afghan side was asked to take effective action against terrorist hideouts from where they have been financing, planning and undertaking cross border terrorist attacks on Pakistani military posts, cities and towns", he said. Earlier, the Afghan Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan's Charge de Affairs in Kabul on Monday last and lodged a 'strong protest' with him over what the Afghan Foreign Ministry said continuing cross border shelling into its eastern provinces.