Peshawar / Islamabad:
The Deputy Prime Minister and the visit to the weekend of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar in Kabul marked a major breakthrough on bilateral trade and other political questions. However, Afghan sources said on Sunday that security -related issues are still requiring long -term commitment to navigate this bumpy road.
The sources told L’Express PK Press Club that Dar’s trip to Afghanistan on Saturday had multifaceted approaches to various questions, including the relaxation of diplomatic tensions, commercial improvements, reinstalling refugees and cross-border movements of Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dar himself, accepted that the two parties have a spinning relationship between the two fraternal nations,” said a source close to Pak-Afghan’s ties. “Mistrust, trade deficit, repatriation of Afghan refugees and a game of blame on cross -border attacks have upset Kabul,” added the source.
However, several analysts thought that Dar succeeded on the diplomatic front, while ice founded between countries thanks to the high -level meeting aimed at solving problems. “On his own economy field, Dar knew how to win, and he showed his skills and played his cards well,” said an analyst.
In the economic and commercial sector, an official of the Afghan Ministry of Commerce told the Express PK Press Club Peshawar office that Pakistan would eliminate 14 to 16 categories of additional prices on Afghan transit goods.
“This will eliminate 10% of taxes on 867 types of products, and public transport goods will again benefit from exemptions as before,” he said. In addition, the transit tax of 2% on the stuffing of reticulation (CSS) imposed by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Afghan containers would be reduced to 1%. “”
Another concession for Afghan merchants has been the replacement of “bank guarantees” with “insurance guarantees”, which would facilitate procedures and the drop in financial charges, “said the manager, adding:” I personally do not understand the difference between a bank guarantee and an insurance guarantee. “”
The other advantages include the limitation of overestances on Afghan goods for the port of Karachi, the provision of concessions on loading and manipulation, the privileges of container exchange and the exemptions of additional tasks – which were all considered as incentives to the Afghan part.
According to sources, the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Agreement (APTA) is finalized and implemented by June 30. On bilateral commitments, the two parties agreed to train two committees on politics and trade to meet periodically.
During talks, the Afghan part recorded its grievances concerning the repatriation of Afghan refugees. They were thwarted by the arrests of refugees and the “bad genius” of the Islamabad expulsion process, according to Afghan officials.
However, Islamabad assured Kabul that none of the Afghan refugees would be forced to leave their real estate properties without selling it, and that they would be allowed to take their valuables with them, “they added.
At the same time, Islamabad clearly said that some disbelievers should not use this mercy for smuggling, therefore, a system of checks and sales would be in place for the screening of refugees that were coming out, the source continued.
The Afghan part has raised the concerns that the “disbelievers” should not enter Afghanistan under the cover of return refugees. On this subject, the Pakistani delegation assured that Kabul’s apprehensions would be discussed accordingly. “Dar assured that Islamabad will never make it possible to use its soil against Afghanistan.”
On the TTP and the security linked to security, according to security analysts and experts, a long -term commitment seemed to be lacking, because the head of the Haqqani network Siraj Uddin Haqqani did not attend any meeting with the Pakistani delegation. Sources have estimated that without Haqqani’s commitment, Pakistan would see no pace in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or Balutchistan.
One of the sources stressed that Pakistan and Afghanistan had already trained the joint coordination committee (JCC) where a report on TTP and other security issues were presented last month, adding that a serious result could be expected when Haqqani was part of decision -making.
The two parties describe that DAR’s visit has succeeded in trade, diplomatic and economic terrains, hoping that its positive impact would be visible in June. Kabul always sees the refugees deliver a thorn in bilateral ties, while Islamabad faced a difficult task to carry out a breakthrough on the TTP and other security questions.
“If Islamabad has not felt any change for security reasons, we fear that an attack on the other side of the border by Islamabad will wash all the efforts,” a source from the Afghan capital told The Express PK Press Club.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar, undertook the visit of the ice almost two months after the two countries got closer to a potential total war on a spray triggered by the construction of Afghanistan of a new post, on the border of Torkham, which Pakistan has deemed an offense to its sovereignty.
The Torkham border was only reopened after meticulous talks negotiated by traditional Jirga. Once the border is reopened, the two parties began to talk to each other in camera, not only to avoid the repeated closure of the border, but also found ways to eliminate the stumbling blocks in the relationship.
The main obstacle remains the use of Afghan soil by the prohibited TTP and its affiliates against Pakistan. What adds to the complexity of the problem is that the TTP used more and more Afghan nationals for terrorist attacks.
Some of the Afghans involved in terrorist attacks were close relatives of Afghan Taliban leaders. Pakistan told the Afghan government that without resolution of the TTP problem, there would be little room for cooperation.
During discussions on the stage, the Taliban government admitted that TTP was a problem and looked for time to respond to the concerns of Pakistan. Islamabad, on his part, has shown a certain flexibility and informed the Taliban government to take at least measures that prevent TTP from attacking Pakistan.
Previously, Pakistan demanded an action against the TTP as well as the arrest of their leaders. However, an Islamabad official told L’Express PK Press Club that Pakistan has now asked the Taliban to take measures without using strength or arrests to prevent TTP from using Afghan soil.
The official said that the Taliban had accepted and at a meeting in Pakistan, the joint coordination committee of Afghanistan (JCC) informed the Pakistani side of the stages.
An official revealed that the Taliban government had arrested several Afghan nationals for their potential involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. “It is a work in progress,” noted a manager, who believes that the Afghan Taliban also wanted to approach the issue of TTP.
During the visit of ice breeze to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar in Kabul on Saturday, the acting Prime Minister Afghan Mullah Hassan Akhund assured him that Afghanistan would not allow his soil to be used against its neighbors, including Pakistan.
The public declaration of a senior Taliban official was supposed to respond to the concerns of Pakistan. In exchange for new Taliban government insurance, Pakistan has abolished some of the restrictions imposed on Afghan Transport in public transport.
Upon his return from the visit of a day, Dar described his visit as a “new chapter” in the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“It is certainly a good start. Two months ago, there was a war, but all these fears gave way to new optimism,” commented a senior Pakistani official, who was aware of development.
