Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Sunday confirmed Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will visit Afghanistan for a one-day visit on April 6, according to a Geo News report.

According to Geo News Abbasi will also visit China on a three-day visit from Sunday.

Abbasi will meet with Afghan leaders and other high-ranking officials while in Kabul. This comes after Ghani extended an official invitation to Abbasi in February.

On Sunday, the Afghan authorities said that Abbasi’s trip to Kabul will mark the start of state-to-start talks. 

According to a source, Afghan officials will reiterate their call to Pakistan to contribute effectively and honestly in the fight against terrorism, and to convince the Taliban to enter into dialogue with the Afghan government.  

This comes ahead of a planned conference of religious scholars from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia. The meeting, which was expected to be held in Jakarta by the end of last month, aimed to discuss ways to forge peace in Afghanistan. 

In what was seen as a goodwill gesture, Ghani, after assuming office as president, travelled to Pakistan in a move to bring the Taliban to the peace table. However, efforts failed an instead the Taliban has continued to carry out a series of deadly attacks in various parts of the country including in Kabul that have killed hundreds of people. 

Officials have long believed some of these attacks have been planned in Pakistan. 

Afghanistan has also accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to Taliban leaders and to the Haqqani network. 

Two weeks ago Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua also visited Kabul for talks with Ghani.