Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday arrived in Kabul to hold talks on regional and security issues with Afghan leaders.

The Afghan interim government had extended an invitation to the JUI-F chief last month to visit the country. The trip will be Rehman’s first visit to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

The JUI-F said that Fazl had arrived in Kabul alongside a delegation. It also said Fazl met Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir. Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Maulvi Abdul Latif Mansoor and others were also present on the occasion, it said.

Tolo News also shared a video of Muttaqi saying he hoped Fazl’s visit would have “a good impact on relations between the two countries”.

Earlier in the day, the JUI-F’s media cell said a high-level delegation of party leaders, including Maulana Abdul Wasi, Maulana Salahuddin, Maulana Jamaluddin, Maulana Salimuddin Shamzai, Aslam Ghauri and others would be accompanying Fazl on his trip.

During the visit, Fazl will hold meetings with the Afghan Taliban leaders and discuss the regional and security situation, the JUI-F statement added.

The visit comes at a time when relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have suffered due to a spike in terrorist attacks, mostly claimed by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban.

Islamabad has stated that the TTP and other groups use Afghan soil against Pakistan. While the Afghan Taliban have denied the charge, authorities remain unconvinced and have demanded action against the TTP, its sanctuaries, and the handover of its leaders.

In November, caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar said there was a 60 per cent increase in terrorism and a 500pc spike in suicide bombings since the Afghan Taliban came to power in August 2021.

Meanwhile, a report issued earlier this week by Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies said that over 82pc of terrorism-related deaths in 2023 resulted from attacks perpetrated by three major groups, including the TTP and its subsidiaries.

Speaking to media persons at his residence last night, Fazl said that discussion on the TTP issue was on the agenda during the visit to Afghanistan.

“I have received an invitation with the approval of the Taliban supreme leader and will meet him,” the JUI-F chief said, adding that he would travel to Kandahar for a meeting with Taliban supreme leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, who rarely meets foreign delegates.

When asked if he would take up the issue of the TTP with the Afghan side, he said: “Yes there is a possibility. We will use our relationship for goodwill.”

Fazl also said that he would use the level of his contacts with the Taliban leaders to the benefit of both countries. “I will apprise the Taliban leaders of the stance of the government of Pakistan and whatever I have noticed during my meetings with the officials,” the JUI-F leader added.