Pakistan and Afghanistan will form a national level coordination committee to ease border crossings and bilateral trade, the Pakistan government said as its National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf concluded his two-day visit to Kabul. Economic cooperation and humanitarian assistance were the primary issues Yusuf had discussed during his visit to Kabul, which came amid the backdrop of the growing TTP violence in Pakistan, Pakistani media said. 

Yusuf, along with his delegation, also held meetings with senior Taliban officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Salam Hanafi and acting Foreign Minister Ameer Khan Muttaqi, and others. The two sides also discussed the barter trade initiative and vowed to work out the modalities for the same soon, Dawn reported. 

Pakistan also offered Afghanistan capacity building and training support in multiple sectors including health, education, banking, customs, railways, and aviation among others.

“The visit yielded substantive outcomes in terms of (the) forward movement on trade facilitation and social sector support,” the Pakistan government said in a statement on Sunday. 

The visit, which had not been made public till Yusuf reached Kabul, came amid the growing tension between Kabul and Islamabad. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned militant group, sharing fraternal ties with the Afghan Taliban, has intensified its violence in the country’s northwestern region. 

The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, enjoys safe sanctuaries in Afghanistan under the Afghan Taliban. Islamabad wants the latter to take action against the TTP, a group responsible for the death of over 10,000 Pakistanis in the last decade.

Furthermore, border skirmishes along the Durand Line, the internationally recognized border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, further strained ties. 

The Durand Line, a 2670 km long line drawn arbitrarily by British diplomat Mortimer Durand in the late 19th century, divides the Pashtun tribes and families of the trans-border region and is not recognized by Afghanistan as the border. 

Taliban fighters, on many occasions in the past few weeks, have stopped Pakistan security forces from fencing the border. Islamabad is also under domestic pressure to take a tough line on the Afghan Taliban as the latter continues to provide sanctuaries to the TTP. 

(SAM)