Aziz due in Kabul to invite Ahmadzai

KABUL Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz is due in Kabul on Sunday to invite President Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to visit Islamabad.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in Islamabad said Aziz would travel to Afghanistan on Oct 19 as a special envoy of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Tasnim Aslam said: “The purpose of the visit is to convey the prime minister’s formal invitation to President Ashraf Ghani to visit Pakistan. The special envoy will hold talks in Afghanistan about the timing and preparations of the visit.”

She added President Mamnoon Hussain had also invited Ghani and the invitation had been accepted.“Well, when the president of Pakistan visited Afgha­nistan to attend the inauguration of the new government, the invitations were extended and accepted.”

Aziz would also meet Afghan National Security Advi­sor Hanif Atmar to discuss bilateral and regional issues, the spokesperson said. The visit was part of Pakistan’s substantive engagement with the new Afghan leadership.

Relations between the neighbours have been tense over the past few months due to growing mistrust on the issue of dealing with the militant threat.

Meanwhile, Aslam welcomed the recent development regarding CASA-1000 project, hoping the agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan would help promote regional connectivity.

PAN Monitor/mud

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