Key Afghan political leader to arrive in Pakistan as part of Pakistan new Policy towards Afghanistan

Key Afghan political leader to arrive in Pakistan as part of Pakistan new Policy towards Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD – Ustad Karim Khalili, a leader of Afghanistan’s political party Hezb-e-Wahdat-e Islami, will be visiting Islamabad from January 11-13, 2021.

The prominent political leader will reach Pakistan along with his delegation. During the visit, Ustad Karim Khalili will call on the Prime Minister and will meet Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other dignitaries.

The visit of Ustad Karim Khalili is part of Pakistan’s ongoing policy to reach out to political leadership in Afghanistan to forge common understanding on the Afghan peace process and deepen people-to-people linkages.

Pakistan’s fraternal ties with Afghanistan are rooted deep in shared history, faith, culture, values and traditions. Pakistan fully supports all efforts for peace, stability and prosperity of the Afghan people, said Foreign Office in a statement.

Pakistan remains steadfast in its support for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political solution of the conflict in Afghanistan through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.

Afghan government, Taliban and others parties are engaged in talks to find a way for a lasting peace in Afghanistan suffering from intensive violence since long. Currently, the Afghan government and insurgent group are holding negotiations for developing “a joint agenda” for what are officially known as intra-Afghan talks.

The intra-Afghan peace talks started in September 2020. The process was initiated following a deal US President Donald Trump’s administration signed with the Taliban in February 2020 seeking political settlement of the conflict.

The US-Taliban deal requires all US and NATO-led troops to leave Afghanistan by May 2021. In return, the insurgent group has promised to cut ties with the al-Qaida and not allow the other terror groups to use Afghan land in future.