Pakistan, Afghanistan to coordinate military ground operations

Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to "take additional security measures and to closely coordinate their military ground operations in the border region to more effectively fight terrorist groups that pose security threats to the two countries", officials said.

A Pakistani official, who was part of high level talks in the Afghan capital Kabul on July 22, told Xinhua news agency on Monday that both sides while reviewing the existing security situation, reached an understanding that terrorism is the common enemy that has to be defeated through better coordination of ground operations and joint efforts.

Pakistani military, intelligence officials, diplomats and representatives of key ministries joined hands with their Afghan counterparts to formally inaugurate the Afghanistan and Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) that provided the needed thrust to meaningfully address all issues of mutual concern by enhancing regular institutional cooperation.

The Pakistani delegation, led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua, was comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, Commerce, Railways, Communications, interior and military and intelligence officials.

The two sides reiterated their commitment to work through mechanisms of APAPPS and to jointly explore possibilities to undertake connectivity and energy projects tough initiatives like China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, energy import project CASA-1000, a motorway between Kabul and the Pakistani city of Peshawar and railway lines connecting the Pakistani city of Chaman with Kandahar and Herat in Afghanistan.

The APAPPS was conceived during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's meeting with Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on October 1, 2017. After several rounds of negotiations, both sides finalised the APAPPS in Islamabad on May 14, 2018.