Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will hold talks with senior Afghan leaders in Kabul on Saturday during his first foreign visit, which Pakistani officials believe as an “extraordinary beginning” in relations between the new government and Afghanistan.

Qureshi is scheduled to hold official talks with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani and will also meet President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah, official and Afghan sources told Daily Times on Friday.

Qureshi’s visit was one of the key topics during the high level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan, which was attended by Foreign Minister Qureshi, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Foreign Secretary, DG-ISI and other senior officials, source privy to the meeting told Daily Times.

The official statement, however, did not mention the foreign minister’s Kabul visit, but the participants shared their views as how to forcefully plead Pakistan’s case during Qureshi talks with Afghan leaders.

Pakistani leaders expect “positive and open hearted response” from the Afghan leadership to Pakistani outreach.

“I can see something immense positive if Afghans did not lose it by ignoring Pakistan’s sincerity at this moment,” a source said about the visit.

Pakistani officials also referred to a series of messages by Prime Minister Imran Khan to the Afghan leaders and insist that “The people of Pakistan will watch Afghan response very closely. If despite Imran Khan’s sincerity, Afghans did not value it, it would be very damaging for long term prospects of real peace in the region.” Pakistanis seemed upset at Afghan leaders’ statements after Taliban briefly entered the strategic southeastern Ghazni city in August. President Ashraf Ghani, who traveled to Ghazni after Taliban retreated from the city, alleged that Taliban injured are “getting treatment in Pakistani hospitals.”

President Ghani had also alleged that Pakistanis had “fought in Ghazni” along with the Taliban and said Pakistan’s army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had assured him to stop cross-border crossing of the Afghan insurgents.

General Bajwa had rejected President Ghani’s assertions and said in a statement, “The alleged return of injured/dead terrorists from Ghazni is incorrect.”

Afghan leaders’ statement were taken as contrary to the spirit of the Afghanistan, Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity, or APAPPS, which says both sides will avoid blame game.

Qureshi’s visit will have an opportunity to review progress on APAPPS, a joint action plan for cooperation on counter-terrorism, reduction of violence, bilateral trade and transit, connectivity, and people-to-people contact.

Sources said the proposed conference of Pakistani and Afghan religious scholars will also be part of discussions during the visit. Both sides have been involved in discussion in recent weeks to convene a joint “uleme” conference to on the Afghan war.

The foreign minister is likely to extend official invitation to President Ghani and Dr Abdullah to visit Pakistan.

Reconciliation with the Taliban insurgents and Pakistan’s possible help in the process will also come under discussion at a time when the Taliban have said they are ready for second meeting with the Americans in Qatar. Taliban and the US officials had met in Qatar on July 23 in Qatar in their first direct talks to find out political solution to the conflict.

Although Pakistan’s now insists reconciliation with the Taliban, the US and Kabul believe Pakistan could play role to convince the Taliban join the intra-Afghan dialogue. Qureshi is upbeat ahead of his Kabul visit and he recently stated that he would like to “take along a solid message for the people of Afghanistan that our future, geography, peace and stability are connected and without peace in Afghanistan, there cannot be peace in Pakistan.” “We need to cooperate with each other and forget the misunderstandings of the past, to embark upon a new journey. I would like to convey a message of friendship, love and a new beginning to the Afghan leadership, with whom I have had cordial relationship in the past,” the foreign minister had stated.

Published in Daily Times, September 15^th 2018.