Pak PM makes his first visit to Kabul

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi made his first visit to Kabul on Friday to hold counterterrorism talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani aimed at easing tensions between the neighbouring nations.

His one-day visit to the Afghan capital, the first by a Pakistani premier in three years, comes as bilateral relations have drastically soured. Both nations accuse the other of harbouring insurgents that launch cross-border attacks. Ghani has said Pakistan is waging an “undeclared war of aggression” against his nation and has threatened armed confrontation over Islamabad’s efforts to fence their disputed border. The leaders discussed security, border violations, energy projects and Abbasi “welcomed Ghani’s peace offer to the Taliban and vowed his government will cooperate in that regard,” Afghanistan’s presidency said in a statement. “Nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” Abbasi said a day earlier in Islamabad. “If Afghanistan is unstable there is instability in Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s military has long been accused of supporting the Afghan Taliban to counter its fears of Indian encirclement and influence in Afghanistan. Yet Islamabad has come under increasing pressure to act against the Taliban and affiliated Haqqani network, which Washington says has sanctuary within Pakistan’s borders. In January, U.S. President Donald Trump suspended military aid to the nuclear-armed nation and accused Pakistan of giving “lies and deceit” in return for years of U.S. funding.

Abbasi told Bloomberg in February that he saw no military solution to the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan and that little progress would be made until all sides entered peace talks.

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