ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday welcomed the visit of an Afghan delegation for talks on a bilateral engagement plan on peace and security issues as well as recent terrorist attacks in Kabul, saying it was optimistic about a positive outcome.

The Afghan delegation led by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai is here on a two-day visit. The delegation is on a follow-up trip to a visit by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua and her delegation to Kabul last weekend for discussion on Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), which is a Pakistani initiative for cooperation in the areas of counterterrorism and reduction of violence, peace and reconciliation, refugees’ repatriation and joint economic development.

Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal told journalists at the weekly media briefing that: “Engagement and dialogue is crucial for the way forward. Despite differences, it is a welcoming development that engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan is ongoing, of which we are hopeful.”

The bilateral engagement is being encouraged by both China and the US.

Team is on a follow-up trip to Foreign Secretary Janjua’s visit to Kabul last weekend

Both sides had at the end of the first round of talks on APAPPS in Kabul noted that some progress had been made and they would continue the negotiations over other important elements of the engagement process when they reconvene in Islamabad on Feb 9 – 10.

The Afghan delegation would, moreover, during their stay hold talks with the security officials on their allegations that the terrorist attacks on a Kabul hotel and a security picket near European Union offices in the Afghan capital were planned and directed from Pakistani territory. Both attacks were claimed by the Afghan Taliban, which President Ashraf Ghani alleges is headquartered in Pakistan.

Afghan officials claim that their interior minister Wais Ahmad Barmak and National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Masoom Stanekzai had in a meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi handed over a list of individuals and madressahs suspected of involvement in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.

Dr Faisal said details about the outcome of Afghan delegation’s visit would be made public when it ended.

In its first reaction to the legislation introduced in the US Congress about stopping economic assistance for Pakistan because it allegedly provides military aid and intelligence to terrorists, the spokesman recalled that the aid had been beneficial to both countries.

“We would like to place on record that the past US assistance has served the mutual interest of the two countries. This fact has been repeatedly acknowledged by the US officials,” he said.

US Senator Rand Paul had introduced the legislation in the Senate last month for stopping the aid and diverting it to domestic requirements, and now companion legislation has been tabled in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Mark Sanford from South Carolina and Thomas Massie from Kentucky.

“The sponsors of these Bills have a particular mindset, as they oppose international assistance and advocate that the money should be spent inside the country for infrastructure development,” the FO spokesman said.

Asked to comment on remarks by Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan in Kabul and during a testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dr Faisal said: “It is a welcome step that senior US officials are publicly noting the importance of this longstanding relationship, our contributions against terrorism, especially AQ and ISIS, and our generosity in hosting millions of Afghan refugees.”

Mr Sullivan had on Tuesday told the Senate panel that the Trump administration recognises the “benefits of cooperation” and the “enormous sacrifices the Pakistani people and security forces have made to combat terrorism”.

However, he had also said that ever since the suspension of security aid there was no evidence to suggest that Pakistan has moved to meet the demands to a decisive action against the ‘terror groups’ operating from its soil.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2018