Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to operationalize working groups

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inspect the honor guard at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan April 6, 2018. (Presidential palace/Handout via REUTERS)

• During PM Abbasi’s visit to Kabul it was agreed that Pakistan to support the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation
• The two countries to avoid public blame game

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and Kabul have agreed to operationalize the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) working groups.
“The understanding was reached during the recent visit of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to Kabul,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. He visited Kabul on Friday at the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Pakistan and Afghanistan will “undertake effective actions against fugitives and irreconcilable elements posing security threats” to either country, the ministry said. 
They also “commit to deny the use of their respective territory by any country, network, group or individual for anti-state activities against either country.”
Islamabad and Kabul agreed to put in place a joint supervision, coordination and confirmation mechanism to implement the agreed actions.
The two countries also committed to avoid ground and aerial violations of each other’s territory.
They will “avoid a public blame game and instead use APAPPS… to respond to mutual issues of contention and concerns,” the ministry said.
After his visit to Kabul, Abbasi said both sides will “have to prove their sincerity for the prosperity of the region as well as the people with their actions.”