Pakistan chief of army staff to visit Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pakistan Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is expected to visit Kabul at the head of a high-level delegation in the near future, an official said on Saturday.

A government official wishing anonymity told Pajhwok Afghan News that Gen Bajwa would meet President Ashraf Ghani and other senior Afghan officials to discuss strengthen relations between the two countries and the peace process.

The source said, Bajwa would also meet with NATO commander for Afghanistan Gen John Nicholson.

It would be the first visit of Pakistan’s high rank official to Kabul after the announcement of US’s new strategy on south Asia and Afghanistan.

In his strategy, US President Donald Trump said that militants enjoying safe havens in Pakistan were targeting international and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

The source added Bajwa would also discuss peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban and measures against Tehrik-I-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan.

Pakistan chief of army staff’s visit plan comes days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani invited Pakistan to negotiations and joint steps against terrorism in his speech at the 72^nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Ghani in his address to UNGA, urged Pakistan to hold a state-to-state dialogue with Afghanistan, something he called as a vital chance for Pakistan. Islamabad would suffer a high price if it missed this opportunity, he had said.

In response to Ghani’s statements, Pakistani Prime Minister Abbasi said Pakistan could not bring Afghan war to his country or to fight others wars.

A day earlier, Pakistan National Security Council (NSC) in a meeting in Islamabad discussed peace negotiations with Afghanistan.

Sa/mds