Islamabad, Jan 31 (IANS) Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will pay a day-long visit to Afghanistan Wednesday to discuss bilateral issues focusing on peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, officials said.
She will call on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul, Xinhua reported.
The two sides are likely to end the deadlock in their joint peace efforts.
Afghanistan had suspended reconciliation efforts with Pakistan following the assassination of High Peace Council chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani in September.
Afghan officials alleged that the bomber, who killed Rabbani at his Kabul residence, came from Pakistan’s Quetta city as a Taliban messenger, and that the Pakistani intelligence was involved in the plot.
Islamabad has denied the charges.
The Afghan government then cancelled a planned visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to Kabul in October, bringing the peace efforts to a total halt.
But the two sides recently proposed visits of the top leadership to break the deadlock to an end, and as the first step, Gilani asked Khar to visit Kabul.
Gilani Tuesday told a visiting delegation of Afghan senators in Islamabad that peace in Afghanistan was critical for peace and security in Pakistan.
He said Pakistan always supported Karzai’s peace efforts and would continue to favour an Afghan-led process of reconciliation.
