Islamabad: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that “expanding cooperation” with neighbouring Afghanistan is a “top priority” of the new government.
Dar took to X after receiving a telephone call from his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi who congratulated him on his appointment as the foreign minister.
“Expanding cooperation in connectivity, trade, security, counter-terrorism and people-to-people contacts is a top priority for Pakistan,” Dar said.
He also stated that the two sides agreed to continue working together in building fraternal bilateral relations.
Separately, deputy spokesperson at the Afghan foreign ministry, Hafiz Zia Ahmad, in a statement on X said that Muttaqi hoped that Dar’s assumption of office would have a “positive and constructive role in strengthening the relations” between the two neighbouring countries.
“The region is increasing its positive interactions day by day and the practical work of major infrastructure projects is starting at the regional level and we are expecting to take a constructive part in Pakistan,” he quoted the Afghan foreign minister as saying.
He also invited Dar to visit Afghanistan.
According to the statement, both Pakistan and Afghanistan emphasised bringing facilities for passengers, patients and commercial traffic on the Durand Line and eliminating existing problems.
Relations between the two neighbours have deteriorated due to allegations by Pakistan that the ruling Taliban in Kabul has failed to stop the use of their soil by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. Afghanistan denied the presence of rebels on their soil.
Angered by the spike in the TTP attacks, Pakistan last year expelled all illegal Afghans and refused to take back the decision despite protests and requests by the Taliban.
However, efforts have been going on to mend the ties and Kandahar Governor Mullah Muhammad Shirin Akhund received Pakistan’s Charg d’Affaires and head of mission in Kabul, Ubaid ur Rehman Nizamani, in Kandahar on Monday.
Mullah Shirin, a close confidant of the Taliban supreme leader, last year visited Pakistan leading a delegation to ease the tension between the two countries.
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