A day after President Ashraf Ghani was invited by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Pakistan, a senior official from the President’s Office on Monday said that diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan are working to finalize a date for the visit.
“It was decided that diplomatic authorities from the two countries should work on an appropriate date,” said Ghani’s spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri.
The trip will mark Ghani’s third official visit to Pakistan after he assumed office in 2014.
In their telephonic conversation on Sunday, Khan said his country is ready for any cooperation which will lead to peace and stability in Afghanistan, according to a statement by the Presidential Palace.
Khan said that he is agreed with President Ghani’s economy-centric idea and regional connectivity and that it requires further talks between delegations from the two countries about technical issues of these topics.
Khan invited the Afghan president to visit Pakistan for detailed discussion and reaching a “clear understanding” on economic issues and regional connectivity.
Ghani, meanwhile, appreciated Pakistani Prime Minister’s commitment to cooperation in the Afghan peace process and said the new spirit of economy-centric and regional connectivity by Pakistan is appreciable.
The US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said in a tweet on Monday that he is pleased about the vision created between the leaders of the two countries.
“Pleased to see Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Ashraf Ghani spoke today (Sunday). Both leaders say they prize the economic dividend peace can bring, especially the potential gains from regional connectivity and integration. That’s a common vision that can truly propel the region forward,” Khalilzad tweeted.
“If there is a guarantee at regional level that Mr. Ghani’s trip to Pakistan will pave the way for peace, the Afghan people should welcome it, but if Ghani once again commits a mistake during the trip, then this would mean an act of oppression on the values of the Afghan people,” said Ahmad Saeedi, a former Afghan diplomat in Pakistan.
This comes after Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Saturday, May 4, summoned the charge d’affaires of Pakistan’s embassy to denounce violation of its airspace and cross-Durand Line shelling by the Pakistani military on parts of Afghanistan.
