Pakistan’s national security advisor meets senior Taliban leaders in Kabul

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan’s top security advisor, who arrived in Afghanistan along with a high-level delegation on Saturday, met with top Taliban leaders in the capital Kabul to discuss trade and bilateral ties, officials said.

Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf met with the Afghan acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, and acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and discussed the current situation in the war-torn country and bilateral ties between the two neighbors, the officials said.

Earlier, Yusuf was received by Nooruddin Azizi, acting commerce and industry minister, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to state-run Radio Pakistan.

“Today, Pakistani National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf & accompanying delegation called on IEA Acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi at Storai Palace, MoFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Mr. Yusuf pledged cooperation on behalf of his country, adding both countries have an economic-centric vision,” said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, Foreign Ministry spokesman under the Taliban-led interim government.

Both sides agreed to work together and further strengthen their bilateral ties in all sectors, he added.

The Pakistani security advisor reiterated his government’s commitment to enhance economic ties with the neighboring country and said Pakistan will facilitate trade and people’s traveling at Torkham and Chaman border crossings.

The foreign minister requested to facilitate the Afghan traders and people who are going for medical treatment to Pakistan, Balkhi said.

Muttaqi said the new government in Kabul has also opened its trade routes with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan and wants Pakistan to facilitate their traders as well, Balkhi said, adding the two sides agreed to set up a joint committee to resolve all issues and work for the enhancement of trade between the two neighbors.

Yusuf is the second high Pakistani official to visit Kabul after Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who visited Kabul in October last year after the Taliban took over the country’s capital in mid-August.

In a Twitter post, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, said: “NSA Moeed Yusuf called on Afghan Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdus Salam Hanafi and discussed strengthening of Pakistan-Afghanistan brotherly relations to promote trade, transit, connectivity.”