KABUL (Afghanistan) – Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif today held wide-ranging talks with Afghanistan’s top leadership on ways to revive stalled peace talks with the Taliban and agreed to hold a quadrilateral meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US early next month on a comprehensive road map for meaningful peace.
Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif was in Kabul on a day-long visit. He held meetings with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah.
Discussions were held on mutual security related issues including information sharing, coordinated counter terrorism operations on respective sides and way forward for Afghan peace process, said the statement by the Pakistan Army’s media wing.
Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa in a series of tweets said that both sides discussed coordinated counter-terrorism operations on respective sides and way forward for Afghan peace process.
COAS stressed on instituting an efficient mechanism for better coordination and preclude chances of any individual or group crossing over to either side.
Notwithstanding the complexity of prolonged presence of over 3 Million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and intimate cross border tribal linkages, both sides reiterated not to allow use of their respective soil against each other and agreed to sternly handle any elements crossing over and getting involved in violence on either side, through active intelligence sharing and Intelligence Based Operations.
Both sides agreed that they would pursue peace and reconciliation with Taliban groups willing to join the process. Elements who would still continue to pursue violence will be dealt, under a mutually worked out framework, said the statement.
Afghanistan is not happy with Pakistan due to frequent violent attacks by the Taliban hiding across the border.
Kabul wants Islamabad to exercise its influence on militants to shun violence and join the mainstream political system by accepting the Constitution of the country.
Emphasizing the need to improve bilateral relations, it was decided to establish a hot line contact between the DGMOs of both countries and increase frequency of mil to mil visits for better coordination.