Peshawar/Islamabad:
The weekend visit of the Vice President and Foreign Minister Ishaq to give Kabul marked a great advance on bilateral trade and other political issues. However, Afghan sources said Sunday that security related issues still require a long -term commitment to navigate this path full of potholes.
The sources told The Express PAkGazette that the trip of giving Afghanistan on Saturday had multifaceted approaches for a variety of issues, including the ease of diplomatic tensions, commercial improvements, the resettlement of refugees and cross-border movements of the Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“The Foreign Minister himself, Dar, accepted that the two parties are having a sour relationship between the two fraternal nations,” said a source close to the Pak-Faghan ties. “Distrust, commercial deficit, repatriation of Afghan refugees and a guilt game about cross -border attacks Irked Kabul,” added the source.
However, several analysts believed that giving succeeded in the diplomatic front, since ice melts among countries through the high -level meeting aimed at solving problems. “At his own economy base, Dar knew how to win, and showed his skills and played his letters well,” an analyst said.
In the economic and commercial sector, an official of the Afghan Ministry of Commerce told Express PAkGazette Peshawar that Pakistan would eliminate 14-16 categories of additional tariffs on Afghan transit goods.
“This will result in 10% tax elimination in 867 types of products, and traffic goods will benefit once again from exemptions as before,” he said. In addition, the 2% transit tax on the container cross filling (CSS) imposed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government in Afghan containers would be reduced to 1%. “
Another concession for Afghan merchants was the replacement of “bank guarantees” with “insurance guarantees”, which would facilitate the procedures and low financial loads, “said the official, adding:” Personally I do not understand the difference between a bank guarantee and a guarantee of insurance. “
Other benefits include limiting the delay in Afghan goods in the port of Karachi, the provision of concessions on loading and handling, the container exchange privileges and the exemptions of the additional tasks, all of which were considered incentives on the Afghan side.
According to the sources, the Afghanistan-Pakistan Traffic Agreement (APTA) would end and implement before June 30. On bilateral commitments, the two parties agreed to form two policy and trade committees to meet periodically.
During the conversations, the Afghan side recorded their complaints regarding the repatriation of Afghan refugees. According to Islamabad, they were bothered by the arrests of refugees and the “mismanagement” of the deportation process by Islamabad.
However, Islamabad assured Kabul that none of the Afghan refugees would be forced to leave their immovable properties without selling it, and that they would be allowed to take their values with them, “they added.
At the same time, Islamabad made it clear that certain criminals should not use this clearance for smuggling, therefore, a system of controls and balances would be carried out for the detection of the refugees that come out, the source continued.
The Afghan side raised concerns that “criminals” should not enter Afghanistan with the appearance that refugees returning. On that, the Pakistani delegation assured that Kabul’s apprehensions would be addressed accordingly. “Dar said that Islamabad will never allow the use of its land against Afghanistan.”
In the TTP and the matter related to security, according to security analysts and experts, a long -term commitment appeared, since the head of the Haqqani network, Sirajdin Haqqani, did not attend any meeting with the Pakistani delegation. The sources said that without Haqqani’s commitment, Pakistan would not see any rhythm in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or Baluchistan.
In the sources they pointed out that Pakistan and Afghanistan had already formed the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) where a TTP report and other security problems were presented last month, and added that a serious result could be expected when Haqqani was part of the decision making.
Both parties portray that Dar’s visit was successful for commercial, diplomatic and economic reasons, hoping that its positive impact was visible in June. Even so, Kabul sees that refugees emit a thorn in bilateral ties, while Islamabad faced a task uphill to achieve an advance in TTP and other security problems.
“If Islamabad has not felt any change in security land, we fear that any attack from the other side of the border by Islamabad can eliminate all efforts,” said a source from the Afghan capital to Express PAkGazette.
The Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made the visit that breaks the ice almost two months after both countries approached a possible total war on a dispute caused by the construction of Afghanistan of a new position, on the border of Torkham, which Pakistan considered an infraction of his sovereignty.
Torkham’s border was only reopened after the thorough conversations negotiated by the traditional jirga. Once the edge was reopened, the two parts began to speak with each other behind closed doors, not only to avoid repeated closure of the edge, but also found ways to eliminate obstacles 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 was that the TTP was using more and more national Afghan 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 the resolution of the TTP problem, there would be little space for cooperation.
During the discussions behind the scene, the Taliban government admitted that TTP was a problem and sought time to address Pakistan’s concerns. Islamabad, meanwhile, showed some flexibility and informed the Taliban government that at least take measures that prevent TTP attacking Pakistan.
Previously, Pakistan demanded actions against the TTP and the arrest of their leaders. However, an official in Islamabad told Express PAkGazette that Pakistan now asked the Taliban to take measures without resorting to the use of force or arrests to prevent TTP from using the Afghan soil.
The official said that the Taliban agreed and during a meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee of Pakistan, Afghanistan (JCC), Pakistaní reported on the steps.
An official revealed that the Taliban government arrested several Afghan citizens for their possible participation in terrorist activities in Pakistan. “It is a job in progress,” said an official, who believes that Afghan Taliban also wanted to address the TTP issue.
During the visit to the ice of the Foreign Minister, Ishaq to give Kabul on Saturday, Afghan interim prime minister, Mullah Hassan Akhund, assured him that Afghanistan would not allow his land to be used against his neighbors, including Pakistan.
The public statement of a senior Taliban leader was destined to address Pakistan’s concerns. In exchange for the new guarantees of the Taliban government, Pakistan eliminated some of the restrictions imposed on the Afghan traffic trade.
Upon his return from the visit to the day, he described his visit as a precursor of a “new chapter” in the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“It is certainly a good beginning. Two months ago there was talk of a war, but all those fears have given way to the new optimism,” said a senior Pakistani official, who was aware of the development.
