Pak-Afghan military officials set to hold security cooperation talks

ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistani and Afghan military officials are set to hold key talks on Friday on security issues, focusing on anti-terror cooperation, the Afghan embassy said on Wednesday. A seven-member high-level Afghan military delegation headed by Afghan Chief of General Staff General Mohammad Habib Hesary is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Thursday. The delegation will also have other high-ranking officials from Afghanistan Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the intelligence National Directorate of Security, according to the embassy. The formal talks are set for December 1st. Pakistani security sources also confirmed the visit but offered no more comments. The visit was to take place earlier; however, it was delayed for few days as Pakistani side proposed “detailed discussions” on wide-range of issues to address each others’ concerns, Daily Times has learnt. Afghanistan had agreed to the proposal, a source said. The Pak-Afghan military-to-military engagement is important as the interaction will enable both sides to explore ways to work closely to secure the border and curb the illegal crossing of the militants, who are blamed for violence in both countries. Pakistani security officials insist the Pakistani militants, who have fled to Afghanistan as a result of military operations, now operate from the Afghan border regions and routinely carry out attacks on Pakistani border posts. On November 13, Pakistan’s military said two security personnel were killed in terrorists’ firing from the Afghan side of the border. That was the fourth terrorist attack on Pakistani border posts from the Afghan side of the border in two months. On Nov. 9, a Pakistani soldier was killed in terrorists’ firing from the Afghan side of the border, according to the army. Another soldier was killed in terrorists’ firing in the same area on Oct. 4. On Sept. 23, the officer Commanding Lieutenant Arsalan Alam of a post in Khyber tribal region was killed in terrorists’ firing. The banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had claimed responsibility for the attacks. Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600-kilometre-long border, mostly porous, and now the Pakistan Army is fencing the border to stop the cross-border movement of the militants. Pakistan has been urging Afghanistan to take measures to secure the border on their side as the management would be more effective if similar steps are taken on the Afghan side. Currently there is a big gap with regard to the forts and check posts and there are seven posts on the Pakistani side and only one on the Afghan side, according to the Pakistani officials, security officials told a group of Islamabad-based foreign media to the Pak-Afghan border. “This is an ecumenical shift in the border control management system of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This border has traditionally been an open border and it has always been the intention of the government of Pakistan to control it and this was the time to do it,” Major General Nauman Zakaria had told the journalists in South Waziristan. “Most of the area which is crossable, which is critically sensitive, from our point of view and from our Afghan brothers’ point of view, where the control is lax, is going to be completely fenced,” the commander added. On its Afghanistan had long been saying that its armed opponents are using Pakistani soil for attacks. American leaders also make such claims and the U.S. top commander General Nicholson said in reported comments on Tuesday in Kunduz that he does not see any change in Pakistan’s policies. Afghan Chief of General Staff Mohammad Sharif Yaftali said in Kabul earlier this month that the Afghan military officials would take up the issue of the “rocket firing into Afghanistan” from the Pakistani side. He had stated Kabul will pursue diplomatic solution to the cross-border shelling. Afghan officials claim that hundreds of Pakistani rockets landed in border areas in eastern Kunar province in recent weeks, forcing some people to move to other places. Foreign Ministry spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal had denied artillery shelling into Afghanistan and had told the media this month that the army “does not fire unless it is attacked” from Afghan areas, which are out of the control of the Afghan government, as were used for attacks on Pakistan. “Armed groups have sanctuaries in these ungoverned areas, which are used for attacks on our posts. We have been demanding that these areas should be brought under control,” Faisal had stated in reported comments. In February in a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged lists of militants, who officials of the two countries claimed are hiding in both countries. Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Omar Zakhilwal had handed over a list of 85 Taliban and Haqqani leaders, 32 terrorist training camps exist in Pakistan, according to the then spokesman for the Afghan Interior Sediq Sediqqi. Earlier Pakistan Army had handed over a list of 76 terrorists, who the countries believe have safe heavens in Afghanistan border region, after a deadly suicide attack that killed 100 people, including 83 people and injured over 300 people at the shrine of Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan Sharif, Sindh province. Both sides are likely to review progress on the lists. Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar said in September his country has offered exchange of prisoners and wanted repatriation of five Afghan Taliban leaders detained by Pakistan. Both countries currently do not have prisoners exchange agreement. Peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan could come under discussions in the wake of the discussions between the Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on October 1. Daily Times has learnt that Pakistani security officials have on a number of occasions pressed the Taliban to join the peace process and they also sought the help of Pakistani religious leaders to encourage the Taliban leaders to come to the negotiations table. Published in Daily Times, November 30th 2017.