PESHAWAR, Dec 3: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to set up a joint contact group to expedite efforts to end violence in the war-torn country.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani in Kabul on Wednesday.

The group will be jointly headed by Governor Owais and former Afghan foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah. It will include chairmen of Pakistani and Afghan jirgas and four members each from the two sides.

In the absence of Dr Abdullah, Afghan Education Minister Farooq Wardak will head the group.

The first meeting of the group was expected by the end of this month, Governor Owais told Dawn on return from Kabul. “The group will meet once or twice a month to review the progress in talks.”

He, however, parried a question whether the Pakistan-Afghan jirga had succeeded in engaging militants groups in Afghanistan.

But sources told Dawn that contacts had been established with the “opposition” groups and initial indications were “very positive”.—Bureau