Army Chief leaves for one-day Kabul visit

Pakistan’s military leader, General Raheel Sharif, arrived in Kabul Sunday for crucial talks with Afghan political and military leaders.

General Sharif will meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other civil as well as military leaders during day-long trip.

The talks between Taliban officials and Kabul were frozen in July when Afghanistan announced the death of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The Afghan National Army (ANA) forces thwarted a plot to carry out a series of roadside bomb attacks in Kabul, the defense authorities said Saturday. “However there should be a sense of a shared responsibility and everyone will have to play their role”, he added.

The visit comes after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s trip to Islamabad earlier this month for a regional conference of the so-called “Heart of Asia” process, ending months of deadlock in bilateral ties over allegations that Pakistan’s military has not cut secret ties to the Afghan Taliban.

Besides peace talks with the Taliban, Islamabad is pushing Kabul to take action against Pakistani militants allegedly hiding in Afghanistan and carrying out attacks.

Afghanistan sees Pakistan s support as vital to resuming a stalled peace dialogue with the Taliban and recently both countries have expressed resolve to work together in this regard.

However, senior Taliban officials said they “do not have any new plan for talks so far”.