Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday endorsed an understanding reached between Islamabad and Kabul to continue diplomatic engagements to resolve outstanding issues between the neighboring nations.
“[Dar] emphasized the importance of sustained dialogue with the interim Afghan government to address Pakistan’s concerns and promote bilateral relations,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office after a meeting with Special Representative on Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq, who briefed the participants on his three-day visit to Kabul.
During his official visit, Sadiq met key officials of the interim Afghanistan government, including Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi and Trade Minister Alhaj Nooruddin Azizi. In his conversation with Muttaqi, Sadiq agreed on the need to continue discussions on border management and security cooperation to prevent another closure of the Torkham border crossing, which was reopened last week after 25 days.
In a separate statement, the Afghan foreign ministry said its leadership had acknowledged Pakistan’s concerns, highlighted the importance of trade and transit for Afghanistan, which is a landlocked country dependent on regional connectivity. During his meeting with Sadiq, Muttaqi urged Pakistan to delink trade and transit from other disputes, stressing this was a longstanding stance of Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan has reaffirmed its commitment to fostering positive relations with Pakistan. F.M. Muttaqi stressed leveraging the commonalities between two nations in political, economic, trade and transit disciplines,” it said, adding Muttaqi had backed enhancing trade and transit exchanges through greater government coordination, facilitating people-to-people movement, and resolving existing challenges.
Sadiq’s meeting with Azizi, meanwhile, emphasized the importance of bilateral trade and the need to prevent political tensions from disrupting economic ties. Both sides agreed to hold frequent bilateral meetings, normalize trade relations, finalize the Preferential Trade Agreement, and address outstanding matters under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit and Trade Agreement.
Pakistan and Afghanistan will next convene a Joint Coordination Committee meeting in April to focus on strengthening trade and economic ties.
Ties between the neighboring countries have been strained over law and order concerns, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of repeatedly ignoring the use of its soil to foment terrorism in Pakistan.