Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to strengthen ties

ISLAMABAD: The newly appointed Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador (R) Mohammad Sadiq Monday met with Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar at the Foreign Office.

Sadiq was appointed as the Special Representative by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on December 4. Afghan Chargé d’affaires Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb also called on the foreign minister and was also present in the meeting where the Foreign Office said both sides discussed “the deep-rooted ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan and agreed to strengthen them.”

This is perhaps the first formal meeting between Sardar Ahman Shakeeb and Ishaq Dar, since the latter took over as the Deputy Prime Minister, with one official saying it was a courtesy call.

Shakeeb also called on Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq separately, said the Afghan Embassy in a statement. Monday’s meeting gains significance, as it comes at a time when Pakistan is trying to review its Afghan policy and making fresh diplomatic efforts to improve bilateral ties, while at the same time it faces great security challenges and threats from the TTP based inside Afghanistan.

There appears to be some reciprocity from the Afghan Interim Government too, where they are now moving the families of the TTP away from the Pak-Afghan border.

Apart from the government, the army recently called on the Taliban to fulfil their commitments and ensure the security of Afghan borders. “It is expected that the interim government of Afghanistan will not allow the territory of this country to be used by the TTP to carry out terrorist acts against Pakistan,” said a statement from the ISPR.

The first diplomatic move came from Pakistan when last month saw its Ambassador in Kabul Obaidur Rehman Nizamani meeting with the Afghan Acting Minister of National Defense, Mawlawi Muhammad Yaqub Mujahid, and the later saying that the bilateral relations were ‘stable’.

Pakistan says the Kabul meeting was in the context of the fact that it was the responsibility of its diplomats based in Afghanistan to engage with the officials and leadership of the Afghan interim government.

The meeting took place after clashes between the Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards in Khost. Reaching out to Ambassador Nizamani, the Afghan Defense Ministry quoted the minister as saying that the two nations shared many commonalities, and these enduring ties had fostered cooperation between the Islamic Emirate and Pakistan in economic, trade, and other mutual concerns based on the principles of neighborly relations and mutual respect.

Neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan publicly commented whether the security situation including threats from the TTP were raised in the Kabul meeting and when asked the spokeswoman at the Foreign Office refrained from sharing details except saying that the issues of ‘mutual interest’ were discussed.

While there are no official clarifications from Islamabad or Kabul on the relocation of the TTP, reports indicate that in coordination with Pakistan’s authorities, the Afghan Taliban have relocated some families of TTP members from Afghanistan’s border regions of Nangarhar’s districts to Ghazni and other Northern provinces.

According to Pakistan, there are roughly 6,000 TTP fighters and their families inside Afghanistan. The future in bilateral ties, say diplomatic sources, will now see resumption of visits between Islamabad and Kabul at a very senior level.