Pakistani, Afghan officials discuss ways to ease tension

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Senior officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan met on Wednesday in the Afghan capital Kabul to discuss ways to ease rising diplomatic and border tensions between the two neighbors.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif along with a high-level delegation, which also included Lt. Gen. Anjum Naveed, the head of the country's premier intelligence agency – Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) –, met with Afghanistan's acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to discuss "bilateral relations, trade, and economic cooperation," according to a statement from Afghanistan’s Information Ministry.

“A high-ranking delegation led by the Minister for Defence is in Kabul today to meet with officials of the Afghan Interim Government to discuss security-related matters including counter-terrorism measures,” Pakistan's Foreign Ministry also said in a tweet.

The visit follows Kabul's unilateral closure of a key border crossing between the two neighbors to protest Islamabad's alleged "mistreatment" of Afghan travelers earlier this week.

Senior security officials from both sides, on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu that security and border-related issues dominated the meeting, though the statement did not mention that.

The Pakistani side, an official said, raised the issue of increasing terrorist attacks on their security forces in recent months, for which Islamabad accused Afghanistan-based militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of several militant groups in Pakistan. Kabul denies the charge.

Pakistan has seen a surge in bombings and ambushes from across the border since the Taliban's storming back to power in the war-hit country in August 2021.

Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan share 18 border crossing points, with the busiest ones being the northwestern Torkham and southwestern Chaman border posts.

In the latest attack, the suspected TTP militants stormed the police headquarters in Pakistan's commercial capital Karachi last week, killing five security personnel. All three attackers were also killed in an hours-long battle.

Over 100 people, mostly policemen, were killed in a suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound in northwestern Peshawar city, which borders Afghanistan, late last month.

Although Pakistan is believed to have a degree of influence on the Afghan Taliban, and their return to power was seen as a big strategic victory for Islamabad, relations between the two countries have soured in recent months.

Baradar was one of the top commanders, who had reportedly spent years in captivity of Pakistani forces before he was released to lead the Taliban delegation in landmark Doha talks in 2020, which cleared the way for the re-capture of Kabul.

He called upon Islamabad to facilitate all the Afghan travelers at Torkham and Chaman borders, aside from special facilities for patients who require emergency treatment.

He also called for the release of Afghan nationals incarcerated in Pakistani jails, mainly for illegally entering Pakistan.

Emphasizing the need for "fraternal relations" between the two neighbors, he further said that his country wishes to bolster trade and economic ties with Islamabad, the statement added.

He observed that trade and economic issues should not be disassociated with politics and security.

The Pakistani delegation, the statement added, assured Kabul of resolving the said issues.