Back on track?: Islamabad, Kabul move to revive peace commission
Khar will fix a date for a meeting of the commission headed by Gilani and Karzai.
ISLAMABAD:
Islamabad will seek the revival of the Pak-Afghan joint peace commission when Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visits Kabul this week.
Khar will visit Kabul on February 1 and call on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, confirmed Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Daudzai.
The foreign minister will also hold talks with her Afghan counterpart Dr Zalmay Rassoul, he added.
“The talks could pave the way for the restoration of joint peace and reconciliation efforts,” Daudzai said on Sunday while speaking with The Express Tribune, on phone from Kabul.
Derailed process
Khar is the first high-ranking Pakistani official to tour Kabul since September last year when ties between the two neighbours were severely strained following the assassination of former Afghan president, and chairman of Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Afghan officials had alleged that the bomber, who targeted Rabbani at his Kabul residence, came from Quetta as a Taliban messenger, and that Pakistani intelligence was involved in the plot. Islamabad had dismissed the charges as malicious.
Kabul subsequently cancelled Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s planned visit to Kabul in October, bringing to a halt the bilateral process the two countries had been working on for months to evolve a joint strategy to seek a peaceful end to the Afghan conflict.
On the mend
Months later, however, the relations are gradually getting back on track.
The two sides have already decided to resume the process and Khar is going to Kabul to fix a date for the meeting of the joint commission, said a foreign ministry official.
The joint commission, headed by Gilani and Karzai and comprising military and intelligence chiefs from both sides, was established in early 2011 and held its inaugural session in June last year in Islamabad. The two sides recently proposed visits of the top leadership to break the deadlock, sources said, adding that Khar’s visit is the first step in that direction.
An Afghan diplomat told The Express Tribune last week that Pakistan had proposed Karzai’s visit to Islamabad but Afghans wanted the Pakistani president or the prime minister to travel to Kabul first.
The top leaders of the two countries could pay visits after Khar’s trip, the Afghan diplomat told The Express Tribune.
Daudzai, who is in Kabul for consultations with leaders ahead of Khar’s visit, said both sides will also “explore ways to expand cooperation” in various fields.
With additional input by TAHIR KHAN in ISLAMABAD
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2012.
Islamabad will seek the revival of the Pak-Afghan joint peace commission when Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar visits Kabul this week.
Khar will visit Kabul on February 1 and call on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, confirmed Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Daudzai.
The foreign minister will also hold talks with her Afghan counterpart Dr Zalmay Rassoul, he added.
“The talks could pave the way for the restoration of joint peace and reconciliation efforts,” Daudzai said on Sunday while speaking with The Express Tribune, on phone from Kabul.
Derailed process
Khar is the first high-ranking Pakistani official to tour Kabul since September last year when ties between the two neighbours were severely strained following the assassination of former Afghan president, and chairman of Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Afghan officials had alleged that the bomber, who targeted Rabbani at his Kabul residence, came from Quetta as a Taliban messenger, and that Pakistani intelligence was involved in the plot. Islamabad had dismissed the charges as malicious.
Kabul subsequently cancelled Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s planned visit to Kabul in October, bringing to a halt the bilateral process the two countries had been working on for months to evolve a joint strategy to seek a peaceful end to the Afghan conflict.
On the mend
Months later, however, the relations are gradually getting back on track.
The two sides have already decided to resume the process and Khar is going to Kabul to fix a date for the meeting of the joint commission, said a foreign ministry official.
The joint commission, headed by Gilani and Karzai and comprising military and intelligence chiefs from both sides, was established in early 2011 and held its inaugural session in June last year in Islamabad. The two sides recently proposed visits of the top leadership to break the deadlock, sources said, adding that Khar’s visit is the first step in that direction.
An Afghan diplomat told The Express Tribune last week that Pakistan had proposed Karzai’s visit to Islamabad but Afghans wanted the Pakistani president or the prime minister to travel to Kabul first.
The top leaders of the two countries could pay visits after Khar’s trip, the Afghan diplomat told The Express Tribune.
Daudzai, who is in Kabul for consultations with leaders ahead of Khar’s visit, said both sides will also “explore ways to expand cooperation” in various fields.
With additional input by TAHIR KHAN in ISLAMABAD
Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2012.