ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua Monday led a high level Pakistani delegation in talks in Afghanistan capital Kabul to discuss wide-ranging issues ahead of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s visit to Kabul, officials said.
The Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said on Twitter that a Pakistani delegation led by the foreign secretary has reached Kabul to discuss the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), a joint action plan for cooperation in the key areas of counter-terrorism and reduction of violence, peace and reconciliation, repatriation of refugees and joint economic development.
Both countries have held two rounds of the APAPPS in a week in February; however, no meeting was held in March. Afghanistan had said after the second meeting that no “progress was achieved on specific result-oriented, time-bound measures in the APAPPS, particularly in the areas of counter-terrorism, reduction of violence and peace and reconciliation to meet the priorities of Afghanistan.”
Pakistani officials believe the joint working groups will enable both uneasy neighbours to address each other’s concerns on all key issues. Both the countries had agreed on the formation of the groups during the talks between Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Afghan President Dr Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on October 1.
Director General Afghan Desk at the Foreign Office Mansoor Khan and Director General Military Operations Maj Gen Shamshad Mirza are part of the delegation. They are holding talks with Afghan counterparts. Afghan deputy foreign minister Hekmat Karzai had led Afghan delegation in previous meetings.
The APAPPS meeting has assumed importance in view of the prime minister’s visit this week as both sides could review the possible key issues to be discussed in the visit.
President Ashraf Ghani had extended invitation to the prime minister during the visit to Kabul by the National Security Adviser Nasir Janjua last month.
