KABUL (SW) – The recent trip to Pakistan by Abdullah Abdullah, chairman High Council for National Reconciliation, has been extensively covered by the local media there.
In its coverage, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn published an article titled: Islamabad, Kabul look forward to new era in ties. Abdullah arrived in Islamabad on Monday on a three-day trip accompanied by a high-level delegation for talks on the peace process and bilateral relations.
“Pakistan played a critical role in facilitating the talks, and has even a more important role to play here on not only supporting the process through a successful end, but also in standing with the people and government of Afghanistan in building a peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood,” he said at an event in Islamabad.
The report said Pakistan being credited for the start of intra-Afghan dialogue, currently under way in Doha.
The Express Tribune said in its report that Prime Minister Imran Khan assured the head of Afghan High Peace Council of Pakistan’s full support for the post-conflict Afghanistan on its path to reconstruction and economic development, as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made it clear that Pakistan wanted to be “friends, not the masters” of Afghanistan.
Dr Abdullah Abdullah held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. He also met other officials as well as delivered a keynote address at the Islamabad Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). His visit, just days after the Afghan government and the Taliban formally began negotiations in Doha, is aimed at seeking continued support from Pakistan, which has played a central role in facilitating the peace efforts, it reported.
The daily Nation reported that Pakistan has been a key player in setting up direct negotiations, first between the United States and the Taliban – which has been fighting Afghan forces since it was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001 – and again in facilitating the ongoing intra-Afghan dialogue process in the Qatari capital.
In an article published in the Washington Post, Prime Minister Imran Khan also reiterated the need for the Afghan peace process to move forward but added that it would be a slow process.
In Islamabad, Abdullah and Qureshi met for delegation-level talks on September 28, with both sides affirming their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties
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