Pakistani, Afghan delegations meet in Islamabad to discuss border tensions

Pakistani and Afghan delegations met on Monday in the first senior-level talks aimed at reducing tensions at the Torkham border crossing along the Pak-Afghan border, The Dawn reported Monday.

"A six-member Afghan delegation is being led by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai," Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said, adding that the Pakistani side was being led by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry.

Both sides are to review all aspects of border issues and will evolve a mechanism for better border management.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz earlier extended an invitation to the Afghan foreign minister and national security adviser, the ministry spokesman said.

"Pakistan... looks forward to meaningful deliberations through a constructive engagement between the two sides with a view to promoting bilateral relations as well as peace and stability of our two countries, and the region," the ministry said.

Earlier this month, the Torkham border was closed due to the clash which claimed four lives on both sides had started because of a dispute over the construction of the border gate.

It also left tens of thousands of passengers stranded on both sides of the border in addition to hundreds of trucks carrying cargo that were also held up.

Torkham is one of the busiest of the eight established crossing points on the 2,500-kilometer-long porous border between the two countries, which is used by some 25,000 travelers every day. 

A diplomatic push to end the Pakistani-Afghan row over the construction of the border gate bore fruit on Saturday when Pakistan reopened the Torkham border crossing for traffic a week after skirmishes forced the closure.

Source: MENA