Afghanistan Government agrees to resume dialogue with Taliban with assistance of Pakistan

Swaraj, who is Islamabad to attend the Heart of Asia Conference, told senior journalist Saleh Zafir she would also accompany the Indian PM during the visit.

“What we would like to see, is for India and Pakistan to bilaterally work out the problems between them”, State Department spokesman John Kirby informed reporters on Wednesday when requested if the USA “permitted of” Pakistani generals instantly speaking with Indian officers.

Dawn reported that in a “major breakthrough”, Pakistan and India announced that they were resuming the dialogue on outstanding issues, ending a two-year logjam.

The paper commenting on Swaraj’s meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that they agreed on increased contacts at all level and resolving all the outstanding issues between the two nuclear neighbours through dialogue, during the meeting which lasted for nearly an hour.

“We have decided that both the countries will commence a comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. It’s precisely what we’ve been strongly making an attempt to encourage”, Kirby stated.

She also invited the ministers for the 6th Heart of Asia summit to be held in India in 2016.

The announcement was made by Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.

Swaraj’s visit here came days after talks between the National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan in Bangkok.

In August, India had refused to hold talks between the two NSAs scheduled in New Delhi, citing an agreement between the Prime Ministers in Ufa, Russia, the previous month to insist that the first round of talks focus only on terror.

The beginnings of a thaw now would allow the Modi government nearly an entire year to prepare its domestic audience for a prime ministerial visit to Pakistan – last undertaken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999.