KABUL - Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif on Sunday held talks with President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah on bilateral cooperation between the two countries, counter terrorism and peace in Afghanistan.
According to a source close to Ghani, the president and Sharif reportedly discussed three issues - Afghanistan-Pakistan security, peace talks and counter terrorism initiatives.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that Sharif had hoped to visit Kabul before the Heart of Asia Summit, but that the trip was postponed due to heightened tension between the two countries.
However, a welcome thaw has recently surfaced between the two countries.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad improved somewhat after Ghani attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad last month where Pakistan signaled its willingness to help revive stalled peace talks between Afghanistan and the Taliban.
Reports however indicate that Washington asked Sharif to visit Kabul in order to ease the tension that overshadowed ties between the two neighbors.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's High Peace Council (HPC) has reiterated its calls to Pakistan to step up efforts and broker purposeful peace negotiations with the Taliban.
"We are delighted to see more interaction and trips between Afghanistan and Pakistan. But we ask Pakistan to ensure these trips are constructive so that sustainable peace and security is restored to Afghanistan - which can also secure the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan," spokesman for the HPC Shahzada Shahid said.
In the past, Pakistan has on different occasions, pledged to help Afghanistan restore peace and security by convincing the Taliban to sit around the negotiation table. However, there is a perception in Afghanistan that Islamabad never delivered on its promises.
"The world witnessed that Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan as well as Mullah Omar. Even Mullah Akhtar Mansour was [allegedly] wounded on Pakistani soil. The world endorsed those terror nurseries and hideouts operating in Pakistan, therefore pressure was mounted on Pakistan at an international level," historian Ghulam Mohammad Mohammadi said.
Pakistan believes that open Afghan borders have provided an opportunity for terrorists to move across the border freely.
Last year 132 incidents were recorded along the border between the two countries and 18 Pakistani soldiers were killed during security incidents along the border.
Sharif's visit comes just days after Pakistan's national security advisor Sartaj Aziz reported that a four member commission comprising representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the U.S will be formed to facilitate the resumption of peace talks. (Tolo News)