ISLAMABAD: Special adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz, will visit Kabul on Saturday for delivering an invitation to President Hamid Karzai from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit Pakistan.
This was disclosed by Sartaj Aziz at a press conference along with British Foreign Secretary William Hague after their talks.
During his Kabul visit, Aziz will try to address some of the contentious issues that have tended to sour bilateral ties in recent months.
Aziz will also talk about trade and economy with his Afghan interlocutors even though the otherwise important issues look peripheral given the acrimonious phase of relationship through which the two countries are currently passing.
In Kabul Aziz would reiterate Pakistan’s commitment to a peaceful and united Afghanistan, and offer help to revive the Doha process which collapsed because of controversy over the name of office and raising of flag, one of his aides said.
At the press briefing, Aziz expressed the hope that the difficult patch in the Doha process would be overcome and discussions between the Taliban and the US would start soon.
However, he was unsure when the Taliban and Afghan High Peace Council — the Afghan body that coordinates reconciliation process — would meet and said that Pakistan, the UK and the US were all working towards that end.
Aziz’s meeting with Afghan Ambassador Umar Daudzai over a fortnight ago, in which the Afghan side claimed he (Aziz) had proposed to the Afghan government to share power with the Taliban, sparked a serious diplomatic row.
