Pakistan and Afghanistan set to hold talks amidst growing tensions

Pakistan and Afghanistan are holding key talks on security and border issues in the 7th session of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), set to take place in Kabul, officials said on Wednesday.

The meeting comes in the light of rising tensions between the two countries, with Afghan refugee deportations, skirmishes along the border, and the increased activity of armed groups within Pakistan since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

Pakistan maintains that these armed groups operate from within Afghan soil, a claim that Afghan officials have denied, maintaining that no one can use afghan soil against any country.

Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq is leading Pakistan’s delegation, which includes both military and intelligence officials. Ambassador Sadiq’s office in Islamabad said that he had reached Kabul this morning.

While on the other side, Afghan Deputy Defence Minister Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir is set to lead the meeting, according to Afghan government spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid.

Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir is a senior Taliban leader, who once led the Taliban military commission during the 20-year war against the US-Nato forces.

“SAPM/Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan arrived at Kabul at the head of a delegation to attend the JCC meeting. JCC meeting is being held after a long gap,” according to Sadiq’s X.

The last JCC meeting was held in Islamabad in early January 2024.

Afghan spokesperson Mujahid said both sides will “discuss resolving potential disputes along the Durand Line and creating facilities for the people of both sides.”

Last month, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban forces exchanged fire following the closure of Torkham border crossing over construction of posts.

Following this development, a Pakistan and Afghan Jirga brokered a deal that led to the reopening of Torkham on March 19 after 27 days.

Head of the Pakistani jirga, Syed Jawad Hussain Kazmi told Dawn.com last month that the JCC would discuss whatever the Jirga had decided including a ceasefire till April 15.

Both sides have agreed to stop construction of the controversial check posts, he added.

Pakistani Officials cite the issue of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other armed groups as a major hurdle in Pak-Afghan relationship.

Further, Pakistan Foreign Office revealed last month that the terrorists behind the Jaffar Express hijacking had Afghan connections, with phone records traced to Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban claim that militants of the ISKP (Daesh) enter Afghanistan from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistani officials have labelled these claims as baseless.

Pak-Afghan trade talks

In a separate development, a delegation from the Afghan Ministry of Industry and Commerce, led by its minister Noor Uddin Azizi, will visit Pakistan today, Afghan Commerce Ministry spokesman Abdul Salam Jawad told Dawn.com from Kabul.

Pakistan and Afghan commerce ministers are expected to hold further discussions on the preferential trade agreement, reduction in tariffs on certain items, a revised transit agreement and facilities for traders at border points.