Islamabad: Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, Wednesday arrived in Afghanistan’s Kabul to discuss security and border issues.
Sadiq, who is leading a delegation including military and intelligence officials, is attending the 7th session of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) in the backdrop of rising tensions between the two countries, Afghan refugees deportation, skirmishes along the border, and the increased activity of armed groups within Pakistan, Dawn news reported.
Pakistan maintains that these armed groups operate from within Afghanistan, a claim denied by Afghan officials.
On the Afghan side, Deputy Defence Minister Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir will lead the meeting, according to government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid.
Zakir is a senior Taliban leader who once led the Taliban military commission during the 20-year war against the US-NATO forces.
“SAPM/Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan arrived at Kabul at the head of a delegation to attend the JCC meeting. JCC meeting is being held after a long gap,” Sadiq said on X.
The last JCC meeting was held in Islamabad in early January 2024.
Mujahid said both sides will “discuss resolving potential disputes along the Durand Line and creating facilities for the people of both sides”.
Pakistani officials said the issue of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other armed groups was a major hurdle in the Pak-Afghan relationship.
Further, Pakistan’s Foreign Office last month said the terrorists behind the Jaffar Express hijacking had Afghan connections, with phone records traced to Kabul.
The Afghan Taliban said militants of the ISKP (Daesh) entered Afghanistan from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a claim labelled as “baseless” by Pakistan.
In a separate development, a delegation led by Afghan Minister of Industry and Commerce Noor Uddin Azizi will visit Pakistan Wednesday to discuss the preferential trade agreement, reduction in tariffs on certain items, a revised transit agreement, and facilities for traders at border points.
PTI
