ISLAMABAD: Afgha­nis­tan on Thursday repeated allegations against Pakistan despite a consensus in capitals of both countries that a visit by Afghan security chiefs to Islamabad a day earlier had been successful.

Foreign Minister Kha­waja Asif following on the positivity generated by the visit of Afghan Interior Min­ister Wais Ahmad Barmak and National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Masoom Stanekzai went to the Afghan embassy in Islamabad to offer condolences over the death of about 140 people in recent string of attacks in Kabul.

In a statement on Mr Asif’s visit to the Afghan embassy, the Foreign Office shed some light on the discussions Afghan security chiefs had in Islamabad during their daylong trip. It said the visit resulted in an understanding on strengthening mutual trust and bilateral engagement.

The foreign minister was quoted in the statement as having said that the visit by the high-ranking Afghan delegation was “encouraging” and both sides held “productive talks”.

A similar sense could be felt in Kabul, where Mr Barmak and Mr Stanekzai told journalists at a press conference that Pakistan had agreed to cooperate in the probe and promised “practical steps” against the militant groups behind the attacks in the Afghan capital.

Two of the three recent attacks in Kabul were claimed by the Taliban.

The claim by the interior minister and the NDS chief was, however, immediately challenged by the Pakistan embassy in Kabul which said that no assurances had been given with regards to responding to the information shared by the Afghan government. It said the veracity of NDS chief’s claims was being ascertained.

The Afghan position has been that the attacks were planned by the Taliban based in Pakistani town of Chaman. Mr Barmak repeated the allegation during the press conference, according to reports received from Kabul. He and Mr Stanekzai claimed to have given a list of suspected individuals and madressahs to the Pakistani authorities during their meeting in Islamabad.

They said their information about the venue of planning was based on interrogation of the suspects held after the attacks.

They linked Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua’s upcoming visit to Kabul, which is scheduled for Saturday, to their trip to Islamabad.

Mr Stankezai maintained that a “security delegation” was coming as a follow-up to their visit and it would come along with responses to questions given to the Pakistan government regarding the Taliban planning attacks in Afghanistan from its soil.

The Pakistan embassy rejected this assertion as well and noted that the foreign secretary’s visit was planned under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Solidarity, which both sides had been pursuing since November.

According to reports from Kabul, a group of Afghans staged a protest outside the Pakistan embassy over allegations that the Taliban were using Pakistani soil to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.

Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omar Zakhilwal, while speaking at an event at the Regional Peace Institute, suggested that the Islamabad visit of Afghan top security officials was meant to serve as an icebreaker between security and intelligence communities of the two countries.

Earlier, he in his meeting with Foreign Minister Asif said: “The cooperation should be focused on upholding our mutual commitment for not letting use of our respective soils against each other.”

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2018