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Pakistan & Afghanistan agree to lower border tensions

09-05-2023

Bureau Report

ISLAMABAD/ KABUL: Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have agreed to boost trade and lower tensions along their border amid a surge in attacks on Pakistani security forces, officials said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Afghanistan’s Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, struck the deal on Sunday in Islamabad, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

The agreement is designed to improve bilateral trade, combat “terrorism” and boost bilateral ties.

According to a Pakistani foreign ministry statement, Bhutto Zardari and Muttaqi on Sunday “held a candid and in-depth exchange on key issues of mutual concern, including peace and security, as well as trade and connectivity”.

The two sides “reaffirmed their desire to pursue continuous and practical engagement”, it said.

According to the Afghan embassy, Muttaqi and his delegation met Bhutto Zardari and other officials. “During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, Afghan-Pak political, economic, and transit relations as well as challenges of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan have been discussed,” it said on Twitter early on Monday.

Pakistan’s military said Muttaqi also met General Asim Munir, the army chief, to discuss “issues of mutual interest including aspects related to regional security, border management, and formalisation of bilateral security mechanisms for improvement in the current security environment”.

Munir sought enhanced cooperation to “effectively tackle the common challenges of terrorism and extremism”, the statement added.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have featured ups and down in the past year.

In February, the two sides shut the main Afghan-Pakistan border crossing at Torkham, stranding people and trucks carrying food and essential items. After a Pakistani delegation travelled to Kabul for talks on the crisis, the border was reopened after a week and Muttaqi’s visit to Islamabad was planned.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan has been shunned by most of the international community for the harsh and restrictive measures they have imposed since seizing power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

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