Pakistan Army chief visits Kabul

KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday left for Kabul for a day visit, the army said in a statement.

The army chief will hold a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other senior civilian and military officials during the visit, according to the statement. 

An Afghan official on Saturday said General Bajwa is arriving in Kabul as the head of a high-level delegation. 

According to a Voice of America report, General Qamar Javed Bajwa is undertaking a crucial visit to Afghanistan where his delegation is to discuss with Afghan counterparts ways to strengthen bilateral, security cooperation and border management efforts.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been marred by mistrust and suspicion, with both sides routinely accusing each other’s security institutions of backing fugitive anti-state militants to plot terrorist attacks against the other.

General Bajwa is expected to reiterate offers of training for Afghan soldiers and police personnel in Pakistani institutions and emphasise the need for the two countries to resolve differences by relying on bilateral mechanisms and dialogue.

Pakistani officials also cite building of a fence and new security outposts on the nearly 2,600-kilometer border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Chief military spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor said the fence would be in place within the next two years. “If Afghans are willing to build the fence and posts on their side, we are ready to do it for you so that only peaceful citizens can cross the border,” he recently told a group of Afghan and Pakistani reporters.