ISLAMABAD: High Council for National Reconciliation of Afghanistan (HCNRA) chief Abdullah Abdullah arrived in Islamabad on Monday morning on a three-day visit, Radio Pakistan reported.
The top Afghan negotiator was received by Abdul Razak Dawood, the adviser to the prime minister on commerce, and Mohammad Sadiq Khan, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi.
Dr Abdullah is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising prominent members of the HCNRA, according to an earlier Foreign Office statement.
The visit seeks regional cooperation to strengthen the peace process which Prime Minister Imran Khan said is a “rare moment of hope” for the war-torn country and the South Asian region. The visit comes as talks between senior Taliban leaders and Afghan officials are underway in Doha, Qatar to chart out an agreement over the future political roadmap for Afghanistan and end a decades-old conflict in the country.
During the visit, Dr. Abdullah will meet the prime minister and President Dr Arif Alvi.
He will also meet Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others.
The Afghan leader will also speak at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad and will also meet journalists.
This is Dr Abdullah’s first visit to Pakistan since 2008 upon an earlier invitation extended by the prime minister. The visit was announced by his office on Monday last after an unprecedented development in which the Afghan government representatives and the leaders of the Taliban met in Doha for landmark intra-Afghan talks that began on Sept 12.
“The goal of the trip is to seek regional cooperation for the strengthening of the peace process, bilateral relations, regional consensus and requesting cooperation and assistance to bear fruit for peace and cease aid for terroristic groups,” Faraidoon Khawzoon, Dr Abdullah’s spokesman, said on Sunday.
The visit will also provide an opportunity for a wide-ranging exchange of views on the Afghan peace process and strengthening of Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relations and people-to-people interaction.
Pakistan attaches high importance to its fraternal ties with Afghanistan, rooted deep in shared history, faith, culture, values and traditions. The country also fully supports all efforts for peace, stability and prosperity of the Afghan people.
In an interview with Pakistan Television on Sunday, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said the visit would be a milestone in cementing Pak-Afghan relations. He said Pakistan fully supported an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace initiative, adding that a peaceful Afghanistan was in the best interest of Pakistan and the region.
Qaiser opined that people of Afghanistan and Pakistan regardless of ethnicities were bound together by everlasting cultural, religious and historic affinities.
