Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that any reservations Afghanistan had with Islamabad should be resolved bilaterally rather than involving the United States, Dawn reported.

“They should talk directly to Pakistan. The US is planning to withdraw and we will always remain neighbors,” Qureshi told Reuters in an interview, referring to Washington’s intent to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

“If I have an issue with Afghanistan, I will not ask Washington to play a role.”

The declaration was announced on Saturday by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a ceremony to coincide with the signing in Doha of an agreement between the Taliban and the United States.

“The United States commits to facilitate discussions between Afghanistan and Pakistan to work out arrangements to ensure neither country’s security is threatened by actions from the territory of the other side,” one of the clauses of the declaration reads.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been at loggerheads for years. Kabul publicly blames Pakistan for harbouring Taliban leaders after they were ousted from power Afghanistan in 2001, and allowing safe havens for attacks against international and Afghan forces.