KARACHI: Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani urged the interim Afghan government to take “solid practical steps” against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying it was “creating a lot of bad blood between the two countries”, Dawn.com reported on Thursday.

Mr Jilani said it was unfortunate that attacks inside Pakistan continued to emanate from Afghanistan as he urged the Afghan authorities to fulfil commitments made to Pakistan and other countries. “They are committed to not allowing Afghan soil to be used against other countries,” the FM told TRT World on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The TTP attacks taking place in Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan “remains a major concern for us”, he lamented.

He said the Pakistan government had a dialogue with the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, and Kabul was told that “they have to fulfil the commitments that they have made to Pakistan as well as the international community whereby they are committed to not allow Afghan soil against other countries”.

Mr Jilani also boasted about the “tremendous and close cooperation” of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar with Pakistan in economic, defence, and political related matters apart from people-to-people contact.

Pakistan’s envoy meets Afghan FM

“We have recently announced a new initiative. It’s the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). The main purpose is to attract investments from the world to Pakistan,” he said.

“It’s like facilitating investors and this is the kind of initiative taken by the government, and the GCC countries…have shown a lot of interest in Pakistan under the SIFC.” The minister said there were five major areas of investment that were being tal­ked about including agriculture which had a lot of interest among Gulf states, the IT sector in which many investments were expected, and also the mine and minerals area.

Meeting with Afghan FM

Pakistan’s Special Envoy for Afgha­nistan Asif Khan Durrani visited Kab­ul on Thursday and held talks with the Taliban administration’s acting foreign minister, according an Afghan foreign ministry statement.

Mr Durrani, accompanied by a high-level delegation, met acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul on an unannounced visit, Dawn.com reported.

The visit comes amid tensions between the neighbouring countries over an uptick in terrorist attacks by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the country.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, Afghan Deputy Spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal said it was decided during today’s meeting that joint committees should solve security issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan while major routes should not be closed due to security and political problems.

“Pakistani special envoy and Afghan foreign minister underlined the need to take urgent measures for the solution to the problems and to prevent untoward incidents in future,” he said.

“Being neighbours and Muslim nations, Pakistan and Afghanistan must avoid issuing statements against each that create a gap between the two sides,” the Afghan spokesman added.

He quoted the Afghan foreign minister as saying that his government would not allow anyone to spoil relations between the two countries, adding that the policy of the Islamic Emirate was based on goodwill and sincerity.

Meanwhile, Mr Durrani called for both countries’ cooperation in connection to the security problems, according to the Afghan spokesman.

He said Pakistan would find a solution to the cross-border movement of passengers, bilateral trade and transit.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2023