ISLAMABAD/KABUL, Dec 27: Pakistan’s powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif today held wide-ranging talks with Afghanistan’s top leadership on ways to revive stalled peace talks with the Taliban and agreed to hold a quadrilateral meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US early next month on a comprehensive road map for “meaningful peace”.
Gen Sharif, who arrived in Kabul met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other civil as well as military leaders during day-long trip.
Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa in a series of tweets, said that both sides discussed coordinated counter-terrorism operations on respective sides and way forward for Afghan peace process.
He said the meetings reviewed the way forward in pushing forward the peace process in Afghanistan and agreed to continue work under the quadrilateral framework.
“With shared responsibility, all stakeholder to support and ensure success,” he said on the quadrilateral format of meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US.
A quadrilateral meeting of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States was held in Islamabad on December 9, on the sidelines of the Fifth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference.
The first round of quadrilateral meeting will be held in 1st week of January to work out comprehensive road map for meaningful peace, Bajwa said without mentioning its venue.
He said the process “would pursue peace & reconciliation with clear demarcation of responsibility of each stakeholder at all stages.”
He said the meeting agreed that that would pursue peace and reconciliation with Taliban groups willing to join the process. “Elements who would still continue to pursue violence will be dealt,under a mutually agreed framework,” Bajwa tweeted.
Earlier, he said that Gen Sharif had gone to Kabul “with all the sincerity and optimism for better border management and peace process in Afghanistan.”
His visit takes place after Ghani visited Islamabad this month for the Heart of Asia conference and met senior Pakistani leaders including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, leading to thaw in tense bilateral ties.
Afghanistan is not happy with Pakistan due to frequent violent attacks by the Taliban hiding across the border.
Kabul wants Islamabad to exercise its influence on militants to shun violence and join the mainstream political system by accepting the Constitution of the country.
Gen Sharif last time visited Kabul with Prime Minister Sharif in May and that led to first round of talks between Afghan Government and Taliban in July.
The next round of peace talks is also expected to be in Murree exurb of Islamabad where first round of talks took place in July.
The Afghan Government says it is ready to take risks but expect the same from Pakistan since it has betrayed Afghanistan on several occasions.
“We are ready to take risks but then we also expect Pakistan to stand by us for the sake of the greater good,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah had said last week.
During today’s meetings in Kabul, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to establish hot line between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries. The frequency of military to military visits for better coordination would also increase, Bajwa said.
Gen Sharif stressed an efficient mechanism for better coordination to preclude chances of any individual or groups crossing over two either side.
Both sides agreed not to allow the use of respective soil against each other, sternly handle any elements crossing over, involved in violence either side through international borders.
Apart from the meetings, Gen Sharif met met General John Francis Campbell, Commander of the Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces and visited the Bagram Base of the US forces in Afghanistan. (PTI)
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