KABUL: Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has arrived in Afghanistan on a one-day visit and met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.
DG ISI Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed is also accompanying the army chief on the visit. Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq was also present at the meeting.
The Afghan peace process, border issues and bilateral relations were discussed during the meeting. The meeting is being held in the background of the next phase of the Afghan reconciliation process.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan has also been discussed while fences on the border between the two countries have also been discussed. Pakistan had appointed Muhammad Sadiq as Special Representative for Afghanistan.
US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, met General Bajwa in Islamabad on Sunday and they discussed the Afghan peace process, among other topics, according to Pakistani news agencies.
During the meeting, both sides agreed to continue working towards mutually agreed goals defined in the landmark peace deal between the US and Afghan Taliban in Doha in February.
A pledge to continue working together to bring peace to Afghanistan was made by Khalilzad and General Bajwa during the meeting.
“The matters of mutual interest, overall regional security situation, including the Afghan refugees issue, Afghan reconciliation process and Pakistan-Afghanistan border management were discussed during the meeting between Gen Bajwa and Dr Khalilzad,” said the ISPR.
The Afghan government has said that, to date, about 3,000 Taliban prisoners have been released. The Taliban has released 458 prisoners who the group claims are government forces members, according to information shared by the group.
The Afghan government has said that it is prepared to send its delegation to the intra-Afghan negotiations.