Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced that he will soon travel to Kabul to resolve the stalemate in relations with Afghanistan.

Ishaq Dar, in a joint press conference with Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, stated that preparatory meetings for this trip are underway. He added that Islamabad is making efforts through various channels to address the challenges in its relations with Kabul.

Dar said: “We have been working to engage Afghanistan, and inshallah God willing ... as you know that we have appointed a special representative on Afghanistan with a very careered diplomat and former ambassador to Afghanistan, Mr Sadiq, and you know the preparatory meetings have been ongoing and hopefully within days I will be visiting Kabul for
a day to break this (log jam) which is there for the last few years.”

This announcement comes as the seventh Joint Coordination Committee meeting between Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq and Islamic Emirate’s deputy minister of defense was held behind closed doors in Kabul. So far, no details of the meeting have been released by the interim government.

Meanwhile, the Express Tribune reported, citing sources, that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issue was one of the main topics of the meeting.

The Tribune noted: “Sources familiar with the closed-door talks in Kabul told The Express Tribune that the Pakistani side was briefed in detail about the number of steps the Afghan Taliban had taken to address the issue of terrorist sanctuaries. “Everyone in the delegation noted a change in the Afghan Taliban stance towards the TTP," said an official while requesting anonymity.

Zia Ahmad Takal, head of public relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated: “He said that in the near future, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, will visit Kabul and expressed hope that this visit will yield positive results for both sides.”

“Unfortunately, the Pakistanis are not sincere in their statements. They agree at the negotiation table, but once they leave it, they raise confrontational issues,” said Zalmay Afghanyar, a political analyst.

Efforts to resolve challenges in Kabul-Islamabad relations come amid tensions caused by Pakistan’s airstrikes in Paktika province, repeated allegations by Islamabad about Afghanistan’s territory being used against Pakistan, and the start of the second phase of forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.