ISLAMABAD: Operations chiefs of Pakistani and Afghan militaries held talksin Pakistan on Sunday to review progress on security cooperation,appointment of liaison officers and establishment of coordination centresalong the border, sources privy to the meeting said.

Director generals military operations of the two countries met amid growinginteraction between the military officials in recent months to finalisedeployment of liaison officers (LOs), establishment of Ground CoordinationCentres (GCCs) for intelligence sharing and to monitor cross-bordermovement of militants, people familiar with the discussions told DailyTimes.

LOs would share intelligence about suspects to the host country and wouldaccompany intelligence officials during raids against suspects.

GCCs will be established at Torkham and Chaman, the main crossing points inthe first phase, and more will be put in place at a later stage along otherborder points.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the process to finalise joint workinggroups on ‘Military to Military Coordination and Intelligence Cooperation’under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Security (APAPPS)that provides a framework to deepen interaction in all spheres of bilateralengagements.

Members for the groups are likely to be finalised this month.

The development came ahead of the visit of Chief of Army Staff (COAS)General Qamar Javed Bajwa this week at the invitation of Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani. This will be General Bajwa’s second meeting with the Afghanpresident in nine months. The army chief last visited Kabul in October thatwas seen as a breakthrough in revival of high-level exchanges.

Afghan DGMO Najibullah Alizai led his side in talks with his Pakistanicounterparts, sources said.

Reconciliation in Afghanistan is now one of the key aspects of thePak-Afghan security officials as was agreed during the talks betweenGeneral Qamar Javed Bajwa and a high level Afghan delegation led byNational Security Adviser Haneef Atmar in Rawalpindi last month.

Although Pakistan insists reconciliation is an Afghan affair and a sharedresponsibility, Kabul and US officials believe Pakistan is a key toencourage the Taliban to join the intra-Afghan dialogue.