Daily Times

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Saturday said an agreement had been made with Pakistan – in writing – on rooting out terrorism.

Addressing an event in Kabul, the president said achievements had been made with Pakistan on finding a solution to the Taliban problem in Afghanistan.

“The issue of Taliban should be resolved. Some things have been done in this respect and some things are still needed to be done. It has been agreed on the paper for the first time. The Afghanistan-Pakistan negotiations framework is now on paper. Now, serious actions are required,” he said.

“We should clearly agree on how we will work with each other in the future and how we will prevent other movements,” he added.

Ghani did not however give details on exactly what the agreement entailed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul Zahid Nasrullah stressed the need for the strengthening of Kabul-Islamabad ties. He talked about Islamabad’s role in ensuring peace in Afghanistan.

“We welcome the ceasefire and strongly supported it. Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain was in China when he announced that Pakistan was strongly supporting the ceasefire. “Pakistan knows its role well in peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and we will fulfil our role,” he had said.

Ghani, meanwhile, said one of the options, which would improve Afghanistan-Pakistan ties would be to turn the country into an economic hub.

Published in Daily Times, July 2^nd 2018.