Army chief General Raheel Sharif will be going on a day-long visit to Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations tweeted that Raheel, on his one-day visit, will meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Officer Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan Defence Minister Besmillah Muhammadi, Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar, and senior military leaders.
Army #Chief, Gen #Raheel Sharif going on a day long visit to Kabul tomorrow.Will meet Afghan President,CEO,Def Minister,NSA &senior mil ldrs
— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) November 5, 2014
The army chief's visit will be the first after elections took place in Afghanistan. The visit also comes ahead of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit to Pakistan. The porous border between the two countries and TTP sanctuaries on both sides of the border are likely to be discussed during the army chief's visit.
Recently, Afghanistan ratified a controversial security pact with the United States to justify the stay of American troops after 2014 -- a move Pakistan welcomed as a goodwill gesture.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on October 20 during his day long visit to Kabul met Ghani and other leaders, told reporters in Islamabad that both sides agreed not to allow anyone to use their territories against each other.
“It was agreed during my visit to Afghanistan that Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used and Afghanistan will not allow its territory,” Aziz said.
The adviser said that both countries will devise a comprehensive mechanism through which political interaction military-to-military interaction, foreign policy interaction and people to people interaction will be enhanced.
The army chief is also scheduled to visit the United States in November, during which he will hold meetings with senior US security officials.
General Raheel recently went to Indonesia on a three-day official visit on the special invitation of Indonesian defence authorities.
He met Chief of Staff of Indonesian Army General Gatot Nurmantyo during his visit.
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The importance of shared cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan remains high since the terrorists on both sides of the border continue to infiltrate the region with their acts of terror. The common challenges have often ignited allegations from both ends, but at the end of the day Afghanistan and Pakistan must form a healthy working relationship in order to counter the common threat of terrorism. I think it is easy to see that both nations are making strong efforts to iron out any differences and work together for the betterment of the region. We certainly wish to see the regional partners communicating and coordinating effectively for the sake of achieving our shared peace objectives in the region.
Ali Khan Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM