PESHAWAR: Senior Pakistani and Afghan officials resumed high-level talks on Wednesday, as a delegation from Islamabad arrived in Kabul for a session of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), a bilateral platform aimed at fostering cross-border cooperation on a range of issues, amid ongoing tensions over militancy and refugee deportations.
The last JCC meeting between the two countries was held in January last year soon after the launch of a nationwide deportation drive targeting undocumented Afghan nationals in Pakistan.
The campaign followed a sharp rise in militant violence in 2023, prompting Pakistani authorities to accuse the administration in Kabul of “facilitating” cross-border attacks by armed groups operating from Afghan soil, and to claim that some Afghan citizens in Pakistan were involved. The Afghan Taliban authorities rejected both allegations, saying Pakistan’s security challenges were an internal matter.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) and Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq, who is leading his country’s delegation, confirmed the meeting in a social media post following his arrival in Kabul.
“SAPM/Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan arrived at Kabul at the head of a delegation to attend the JCC meeting,” he said in a social media post. “JCC meeting is being held after a long gap.”
Separately, Sadiq’s office announced that a delegation led by Afghan Acting Minister for Industry and Commerce Noor Uddin Azizi would arrive in Pakistan today, comprising representatives from Afghanistan’s economic, foreign affairs, refugee, and civil aviation authorities, along with private sector stakeholders.
Officials from both sides have not disclosed the full agenda of the JCC, but their interactions in the two countries are expected to focus on economic cooperation, transit trade, refugee issues, border management and security challenges during the day.
