Afghanistan's National Security Adviser Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta is heading a delegation of senior officials from the foreign, interior and defence ministries as well as the country's intelligence agency.
Senior officials of Pakistan's foreign ministry and Afghan ambassador in Islamabad went to the airport to receive the Afghan delegation.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai had told Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over the phone last week that his team will carry a letter that will seek a “road-map” for future bilateral cooperation against terrorism.
The foreign ministry in Islamabad said Dr Spanta will hold delegation-level talks with Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. The talks will be attended by senior security officials from both sides.
“The discussions will focus on ensuring deeper bilateral security cooperation. The two sides will discuss ways of strengthening regular contact between the security authorities of the two countries,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on June 25.
Dr Spanta will also contact PM Nawaz and deliver a special letter from Karzai, Afghan sources said.
The Afghan president had decided to send his top aide for follow-up discussions after PM Nawaz’s special envoy, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, met him in Kabul last week. During Achakzai's visit, he had sought Kabul’s cooperation to tighten security along the border in order to stop militants from fleeing and entering Afghanistan.
Qazi Amin Waqad, a senior member of the Afghan High Peace Council, told The Express Tribune this week that Afghans have attached high hopes to Dr Spanta’s visit as bilateral talks would help the fragile peace process in Afghanistan.
The visit comes at a time when the cross-border firing has caused tensions between the two neighbours.
On June 23, Afghanistan had claimed that Pakistani troops, in civilian dress, killed three Afghan soldiers and eight civilians in Kunar province. Pakistan dismissed the allegations as baseless.
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@Daud: How many million Afghans live and thrive in Pakistan ???.........and you still take every opportunity to stab Pakistan in the back.........so is Karzai to be trusted ??
@Daud: Afghanistan has shown it is not to be trusted from 1947 when it allied with India to cause trouble in KPK and Baluchistan. Worse of all was Sardar Daoud who destroyed Afghanistan in his obsession to attack Peshawar in the 1960s. All the Afghans did by Indian lackeys was to bring misery upon Afghanistan itself.
For decades the relationship between and among the countries; Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Iran goes worst time by time. There is no doubt that these countries are passing from evolutionary stage of mental and civil development and have lack of maturity. No doubt that these countries secretly creating problems and hurdles for each others. No doubt that each of these countries want dominancy, power and status in the region. No doubt that they have lost more and have gain nothing. But after decades these countries must need to understand the importance of each other, each other diversity, resource and cooperation. These countries must stop creating problems for each other and must focus on their innocent people and nation, whose like many generation by generation they have scarified for their agendas. Pakistan and Afghanistan must stop interference in each other homes and must live like really humans, similar for Iran and India. If three of these countries really and honest stop their negative activities then in years the South East Asia will be the most peaceful and progressive region. Leave blaming each other of course all are really involve for decades in creating disturbance in the region. In this all not for the religion, peace or national interest but for getting power and playing around by creating obstetrical for each other and fooling own Nations.
@pervez, is Pakistan to be trusted?
Is Karzai to be trusted ????