THIS refers to the news report ‘US officials agree to draft Afghan peace deal’ (Jan 27). The late US Senator John McCain once said while visiting Pakistan: “there could be no peace in Afghanistan or the rest of the region without Pakistan’s cooperation.”

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s phone call to our prime minister was a positive and clear indication that the deadlock between Islamabad and Kabul is easing up and a thaw is imminent in the relationship between the two countries.

Pakistan’s new government and the US administration were looking for ways to reset the relationship, and the peace efforts this time appear to be are making some headway.

The need of the hour is that both Pakistan and Afghanistan should move on from here and build trust while taking on militants who have taken up arms and running terror campaigns.

Pakistan has to take a different approach and cleanse the state of non-state actors in an impartial way.

Anas A. Khan
Edmonton, Canada

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2019