Pakistan’s army chief holds meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul

BY KASWAR KLASRA

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa held meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Today on Tuesday.

Detail of meeting is yet to share with media. However, speculations are doing the round in Islamabad and Washington that his visit may be linked to resumption of US-Taliban peace talks expected anytime during this month.

General Bajwa’s visit to Kabul came on the heels of Ambassador Khalilzad Ramzay’s visit to Pakistan last Sunday. Pakistan’s newly appointed Special envoy for Afghanistan Mr. Muhammad Sadiq and Director general ISI accompanied General Bajwa during his visit to Kabul.

There was no prior announcement or information about heads of military establishment’s visit to Kabul. Local media in Pakistan only knew about the high-profile visit of country’s elite of military establishment after Pakistan Embassy in Kabul released a picture of General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Afghanistan President Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul, at its official Twitter

Further details are yet to be provided but many in Pakistan perceived that visit by the COAS has connection with the ongoing efforts seeking a solution to the United States war in Afghanistan – a conflict which has lasted nearly two decades.

This is the first visit to Kabul by a high-ranking Pakistani official since Ghani’s second term in office began. It comes ahead of the imminent intra-Afghan talks and only two days after US President Donald Trump’s point man for Afghanistan held talks with General Bajwa to discuss the next steps for advancing the peace process that has moved slowly since the landmark deal signed between the US and Afghan Taliban on February 29.