Leader of Afghanistan’s Hezb-e Wahdat party begins Pakistan visit

Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq receives leader of the Hezb-e-Wahdat-e Islami party of Afghanistan Ustad Karim Khalili at the Islamabad airport on Jan. 11, 2021. (Photo courtesy: @AmbassadorSadiq/Twitter)

• Khalili is on a three-day trip that will focus on peace talks between the Kabul government and Taliban insurgents
• His delegation will meet the Pakistani PM, foreign minister, national assembly speaker and other leaders

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Hezb-e-Wahdat-e Islami party of Afghanistan, Karim Khalili, arrived in Islamabad today, Monday, on a three-day visit that will focus on ongoing peace talks between the Kabul government and Taliban insurgents. 
Khalili’s visit is part of Pakistan’s ongoing policy to reach out to a broad base of political leaders in Afghanistan “to forge common understanding on the Afghan peace process and deepen people-to-people linkages,” the foreign office said in a curtain raiser on Sunday. 
During the visit, the Afghan delegation will call on Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as meet Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and other dignitaries.
“Ustad Karim Khalili is an important Afghan political leader and head of Herb-e-Wahdat, a leading political party in Afghanistan. Our engagement with him and his party is part of Pakistan’s policy of across-the-board engagement with all important Afghan leaders and stakeholders,” Ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan, Mansoor Khan, told Arab News on Monday.
Hizb-e-Islami Chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also visited Pakistan in October, weeks after Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, made a trip to Islamabad. 
“We have been engaged with him [Khalili] for many weeks to plan his visit to Pakistan for discussions about progress in the Afghan peace process and strengthening of people-to-people engagement with Afghanistan,” the envoy said. “Ustad Khalili had also visited Pakistan in the past.”
“Pakistan remains steadfast in its support for an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political solution of the conflict in Afghanistan through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process,” the foreign office statement on Sunday said. 
The Wahdat party aims to represent Afghanistan's Hazara Shia community.  There have been reports that Khalili’s visit is linked to the murders earlier this month of 11 Hazara Shia coal miners in Pakistan, which were claimed by Daesh. The Afghan foreign ministry has said 7 of the 11 miners were Afghan migrant workers.