Daily Times

Days after Islamabad shut down its consulate in eastern Afghanistan eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, Pakistan on Monday resumed temporary visa operation only for patients or students residing in the jurisdiction of the consulate as an emergency measure.

The development came after Afghanistan assured Pakistan of security.

“Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani called his Pakistani counterpart Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and assured full security to Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad”, Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal told Daily times.

The spokesman said Rabbani expressed his country’s desire to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries, and extended an invitation to Shah Mehmood Qureshi to visit Kabul at a mutually convenient date, which the later accepted.

While thanking his Afghan counterpart, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that peace and prosperity of the two countries were interlinked and stressed the need to work together for achieving lasting regional peace.

Both sides appreciated recent improvement in relations since the launch of the Afghanistan Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) in May this year.

The two leaders agreed to hold next round of APAPPS soon in Islamabad. They also welcomed the holding of joint Pak-Afghan Ulema Conference in Islamabad, the dates for which were being finalised.

Published in Daily Times, September 4^th 2018.