Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to formulate special task forces to formulate the country’s policy on relations with Afghanistan, Iran, China and the Unites States, official sources have told Daily Times.

PM Khan had laid out the salient features of foreign policy in his victory speech on July 26. Besides offering India to resume bilateral dialogue, the prime minister also focused on Afghanistan, China, U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia in his televised address.

On August 24, the PM paid his first official visit to the Foreign Office, where he was briefed on challenges the country was facing in the region. The decision to form special task forces was made following the visit, official sources say.

On Afghanistan, the officials said that a message had been conveyed to the western neighbour that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi intended to visit Kabul to discuss bilateral matters, focusing on the peace process. They said both sides have also agreed in principle to hold meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session later in September.

FM Qureshi had stated in his August 24 media briefing that peace in Afghanistan was necessary for Pakistan’s stability and that ‘we will see what role Pakistan can play in this regard’.

The foreign minister’s visit will be significant to keep alive the momentum of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) that got affected by Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s remarks following the Taliban assault on Ghazni in early August.

The Afghan leader had alleged that Pakistani nationals had ‘taken part’ in the attack, the charges were denied by Pakistan.

In his rebuttal, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa reiterated that ‘there was no support to any terrorist activity inside Afghanistan from Pakistan side’. He advised Afghanistan to ‘look inward as the problem resides inside Afghanistan’.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to avoid publicly blaming each other over attacks in the seven key principles of the APAPPS.

Daily Times has also learnt that the army chief is likely to visit Afghanistan in a couple of days for a trilateral meeting of senior military leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Resolute Support Mission. The visit will be an opportunity for the Afghan and Pakistani military leaders to have interaction on the highest level. Pakistani and Afghan militaries and intelligence have enhanced interaction in recent months and they are now part of the five joint working groups under the APAPPS.

Published in Daily Times, September 1^st 2018.