KARACHI, March 22: Speakers at a seminar titled ‘Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution’ have said that the major problem being faced by Kabul and Islamabad was a growing ‘trust deficit,’ and suggested that meaningful trade, educational, communication and cultural ties were a must for bridging the ‘trust gap’ between the two countries.

The seminar was held at the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi on Thursday, where a six-member delegation led by Prof Dr Moonis Ahmed shared its views on its return from a visit to Afghanistan.

The visit was aimed at holding an academic dialogue with the Centre for Strategic Studies, Kabul, from March 14 to 17.

The visit was sponsored by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad.

Speakers discussed at length the issues of conflict and cooperation between the two countries, particularly those dealing with the war on terror, security, mining, fencing, repatriation of Afghan refugees, energy cooperation, Pakistan’s aid policy vis-à-vis Afghanistan, trade and transit, including improving bilateral trade relations, empowerment of tribal areas of Pakistan and the future of Pak-Afghan relations.

Brig (R) A. R. Siddiqui chaired the discussion and expressed his views about relations between the two countries.

Academics, journalists, faculty members and students took part in the discussion and stressed the need to have a meaningful dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

They said that ties ought to be strengthened both at the state and civil society levels in order to expand the framework of cooperation in the region.

They said that the blame game must end and positive aspects of relations, particularly in the arena of trade, science and technology, must be highlighted.