Islamabad (TDI): The first session of the Additional Secretary-Level Mechanism between the Foreign Ministries of Afghanistan and Pakistan was held on July 7, 2025, in Islamabad.Â
This meeting was held in follow-up of the decisions taken during the visit of Pakistan’s Foreign and Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar, to Kabul on April 19, 2025.
In the talks, the Pakistani side was headed by Ambassador Syed Ali Asad Gillani, Additional Secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia, and the Afghan side was headed by Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor, Director General of the First Political Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.
The meeting covered a broad range of bilateral issues: trade and transit cooperation, regional connectivity, security, and human movement across the shared border.
Both sides agreed that terrorism is a significant threat to regional peace and stability. Pakistan’s Secretary urged the Afghan government to take practical measures against terrorist organizations based in Afghanistan, pointing out that their activities continue to undermine Pakistan’s security and hamper regional development.
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They also evaluated progress made in facilitating Afghan transit trade. The measures include the elimination of a 10% processing charge, the introduction of an insurance guarantee mechanism, a decrease in scanning and examination procedures, and the introduction of a track and trace mechanism.
Both sides stressed the significance of signing the Framework Agreement for the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Railway, calling it a key step towards opening new trade corridors and promoting sustainable development in the region.
They also discussed the repatriation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The latter communicated that it has issued visas to more than 500,000 Afghan citizens since January 2024, thus enabling documented travel for medical, business, education, and tourism-related reasons.
Both sides also agreed to work together to increase legal cross-border movement and facilitate people-to-people exchanges. At the end of the talks, Director General Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor also met with Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary, Amna Baloch.
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