NSA Moeed Yusuf holds 'productive meeting' with Afghanistan's FM

National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf arrived on Saturday in Kabul for talks on bilateral matters of mutual interest.

This was announced by Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan in a tweet.

"[Dr Yusuf] had a productive meeting with acting Foreign Minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi to kick off the visit," the ambassador said.

"(He) will have multiple official meetings to strengthen humanitarian and economical engagement."

The adviser was scheduled to travel to Afghanistan on January 18 for a two-day visit but the trip was delayed due to bad weather.

Earlier, Yusuf had rejected the perception that the Afghan Taliban are not recognising the Pakistan-Afghanistan international border, saying “there is tremendous positivity at the policy level” within the Taliban.

Pak-Afghan border issue: There’s huge ‘positivity’ within Taliban: NSA

The NSA was answering queries of the members of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, after giving a comprehensive briefing on the recently-launched National Security Policy document.

“The issue with regard to the fencing is only at the local level, while there is a tremendous positivity at the policy level,” Yusuf stated, in response to a question by committee chairman Malik Mohammad Ehsanullah Tiwana who, while chairing the session, referred to recent incidents in which some Taliban soldiers were seen dismantling the border-fence after indulging in a war of words with Pakistani security forces in a clear provocation that “Afghanistan will never recognize” the approximately 2,670-kilometre long international border between the two countries also known as Durand Line.

The committee chairman further stated that prior to Taliban coming into power across the border; there was a great optimism in Pakistan that they would not allow the banned Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to use the Afghan soil for terrorism against Pakistan.

To this, the NSA stated that on the behest of the Afghan Taliban, peace talks were held with the TTP and a month-long ceasefire was also agreed. However, after the expiry of the ceasefire agreement, the TTP resumed its militant activities, which indicate that the group is not interested in peace.