Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will embark on a daylong visit to Kabul today (Saturday) in a bid to reset the estranged ties marred by trust deficit between the two countries. In his first foreign trip as the foreign minister, Foreign Office sources said that Qureshi will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and other senior officials of the Foreign Office as well as senior military officials in the visit to be undertaken on the invitation of his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani.
During his stay in Kabul, the sources said Foreign Minister Qureshi will hold delegation level talks with his Afghan counterpart Rabbani to discuss issues of mutual interests including the implementation of Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), a joint action plan for cooperation on counter-terrorism, reduction of violence, bilateral trade and transit connectivity, and people-to-people contacts.
Foreign Minister Qureshi will also hold meeting with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and members of the Afghan High Peace Council to discuss bilateral issues especially the efforts to bring Afghan Taliban to talks. In his talks with Afghan leadership, the sources said that foreign minister will convey the new government's message of supporting the Afghan peace process and a proposal of joint cooperation to eradicate terrorism and prevent the non-state actors from using each other's soil against the other.
They said that the two sides would also discuss the increasing threat posed by Daesh to both the countries. In the recent past, the sources said that Daesh, a global terror network, has increased its footprint in restive areas of Afghanistan especially near the Pakistan-Afghan border which is a serious source of concern for Pakistan.
In the recent communications with top Afghan leadership, the sources said that the new government of PTI has conveyed to the government of Afghanistan that it is ready to extend all possible cooperation to facilitate President Ghani's agenda of political reconciliation with Taliban.