Pakistani army chief leaves for Kabul to discuss peace talks

On November 31, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani reached an agreement during a meeting on the sidelines of a United Nations climate summit in Paris to revive peace negotiations with the Taliban.

General Raheel Sharif is scheduled to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and senior military leaders during his day-long visit which is seen very important to end the deadlock in the reconciliation process.

General Sharif’s visit was initially planned for earlier this month – before the Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad – but got delayed because of bilateral tensions.

“COAS (Chief of Army Staff) will visit Kabul on Sunday, 27th December”, Pakistan army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa said on Twitter.

Officials say the discussions will focus on promoting the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, enhancing security cooperation and better management of the long porous border between the two countries to prevent militant infiltrating on either side.

In October, Pakistani officials said the talks were expected to resume.

The first ever face-on-face dialogue between the Taliban and the Afghan government was held in Pakistan in July but the its second round was postponed at the request of the Taliban leadership, citing uncertainty caused by the confirmation of the death of former leader Mullah Omar.

Afghanistan is apparently not happy with Pakistan due to violent attacks by the Taliban hiding across the border.