ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office Thursday said relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan had significantly improved, with both sides working on further solidifying the diplomatic gains, and maintaining and accelerating the positive momentum.
Speaking at the weekly briefing here on the trade agreement between the two countries on Wednesday, spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said it was a very important element of bilateral relationship.
“There have been issues, or multiple issues, ranging from logistics, customs, procedure etc, impacting trade. So, all of these are being addressed, and you can see the momentum it is generating. So, there is good progress on the trade,” he said.
In this regard, he gave further details by saying the agreement yesterday is early harvest.
“So this will hopefully lead to more progress. But these four items that the two sides selected were in great demand on both sides, and this will have an immediate impact on the lives of farmers.
“For example, potatoes from Pakistan are in great demand in Afghanistan. Similarly, Afghan fruits will directly help ordinary farmers. Overall, we remain optimistic about the direction and the trajectory of bilateral economic relations. And we hope to see more progress,” he said. To a query about the visit of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s to Afghanistan, the spokesperson termed it “very important”. “In a slightly broader context, the important watershed moment was the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister’s visit of 19th April 2025. There is a steady positive momentum in interactions, and the quality of relations has significantly improved. Both sides are working on further solidifying the diplomatic gains, maintaining and accelerating the positive momentum. The interior ministry deals with security and counterterrorism issues which are a very important part of the agenda between the two countries. We have repeatedly reiterated about what kind of relations we want with Afghanistan,” he pointed out.
But he did confess that one of the stumbling blocks is the sanctuaries enjoyed by terrorists there.
“There is an active engagement going on between the two sides, and Afghan side is showing receptivity to our concerns communicated to them in this regard. The technical discussions are ongoing, I cannot go into the specifics of those, but what I can broadly in political terms say is that the visit was very successful. The two sides are positively engaged, and cooperation in security area has to be seen in the broader ambit of overall positivity and improvement of relations between the two brotherly neighboring countries,” he said.
About the continuous media reports that India was planning another false flag operation against Pakistan, the spokesperson said in any misadventure attempt by India, Pakistan’s posture remains very robust. “We are confident of our defense capabilities, and we hope India sees reason but if any attack, or aggression takes place against Pakistan, we are ready to defend ourselves. We are confident about our capabilities and we have demonstrated our capability in the recent Marka-e-Haq, which should be evident to everyone. The bottom line is, we remain ready, and we hope India should be able to see that bellicosity or hegemonic impulse is not going to lead it anywhere. So we hope that reason prevails and they can see that the route of diplomacy can lead to win-win situation between the two countries”, he said.
The Foreign Office finally confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet in Washington on Friday (today).