News Detail
Chief of Afghanistan High Peace Council to push for peace panel revival
KABUL: Afghanistan High Peace Council chief Salahuddin Rabbani, who is expected to arrive in Islamabad later this month, will discuss with Pakistani officials the revival of a joint peace commission to reach out to insurgents.
A spokesman for the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, Zardasht Shams, told Pajhwok Afghan News that Salahuddin was due in the last 10 days of the month. His visit was discussed with Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf during his maiden visit to Kabul last month.
Shams said the visit was also discussed last week between Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Mohammad Omar Daudzai and Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
Rabbani will hold crucial talks with political as well as military officials to revive the proposed commission that was envisioned during his late father Burhanuddin Rabbani’s visit to Pakistan.
Former president Prof. Rabbani was killed in a suicide attack by a militant posing as a peace envoy in Kabul on September 20, 2011.
High Peace Council member Ismail Qasimyar also confirmed that Rabbani, at the head of a high-level delegation, was to visit Pakistan later this month. But he did not give a specific date for the trip, hoping the delegation would hold comprehensive talks with Pakistani officials.
He said the joint peace commission involved presidents of the two countries. The maiden meeting of the commission had taken place, but the process stopped with the death of Prof. Rabbani.
Meanwhile, the Afghan embassy said some minor issues to clear Afghanistan-bound textbooks were yet to be resolved. Millions of textbooks for Afghan schools have been stuck at the Karachi port since November.
Last month, when the NATO supply line was restored, Pakistani officials said the textbooks would be allowed to reach Afghanistan, but so far the cargo could not be transported.
Shams said the issue had been resolved at a high government level, but some problems at lower levels were yet to be resolved. However, he hoped the problems would be addressed soon.
An official at the Pakistani foreign ministry said the government had allowed the textbooks to be transported to Afghanistan. Mid-term examinations in Afghanistan have concluded, but students promoted to the next grade remain deprived of books.--(PAN)
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