Pakistan’s army chief to visit Kabul for peace process talks

By APD Writer Muhammad Sohail

**ISLAMABAD, Sept. 28 (APD) -- **Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit Kabul later this week to discuss security issues with Afghan leadership, especially on how to bring Taliban peace process, official sources said on Thursday.

According to the official, General Bajwa is to meet senior Afghan officials to discuss key issues, including getting Taliban to come to the table for peace talks, currently a frozen process which is widely supported by the all the stakeholders.

Confirming the development, the official source said that General Bajwa would briefly visit Kabul before heading to Moscow.

The development came after Afghanistan told different stakeholders that Kabul does not want a mediator in its dialogue with Pakistan for the peace process.

However, commenting on the news of Bajwa’s visit, Afghan Ministry of Defense Spokesman Dawlat Waziri repeated U.S. president Donald Trump’s allegations against Pakistan and said Pakistan should take action against 'terrorist hideouts and safe havens inside Pakistani territory'.

"We will ask Pakistan to act honestly, otherwise these trips will not have results," said Waziri while talking to media.

Local watchers said that the upcoming visit is the result of the meeting between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

"Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counterterrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan,” Abbasi told the assembly.

Ghani in his address to the assembly, however, urged Pakistan to hold a state-to-state dialogue with Afghanistan "on how we can work together earnestly to eliminate terrorism and contain extremism".

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)