ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday once again reaffirmed its commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. The Foreign Office, in a very brief statement, said this commitment was conveyed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in a telephonic conversation with Acting Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on Saturday. “They discussed a range of issues of mutual interest,” the Foreign Office added.

The brief statement was indicative of the tense relations between the two neighbours and the telephonic conversation comes immediately after Pakistan gave a very strong statement in Samarkand. Another statement emanated from Islamabad in which Kabul was clearly told that Pakistan had lost patience as the soil of Afghanistan was being used by TTP to attack the country.

Recently, on two occasions, Army Chief General Asim Munir has talked about military operations. On Saturday, the message from the GHQ was “that while security forces are undertaking intelligence-based operations in areas along western border, there is a need to adopt a whole-of-the-nation and whole-of-the-government approach to eradicate the menace of terrorism on a long-term basis.”

It was Minister of State Hina Rabbani Khar, who during a meeting on Afghanistan in Samarkand, on Friday said, “We also believe that more needs to be done to eradicate the foothold of terrorist organisations from Afghanistan, without distinction and in a concerted and uniform manner. Greater cooperation and coordination with the Interim Afghan Government remains critical. We look forward to working closely with the neighbouring states and the international community.”

Khar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif have visited Kabul recently and a delegation from Kabul also visited Islamabad.