Kabul (TDI): Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq, arrived in Kabul earlier to take part in the meeting of the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC).
After his last ice-breaking trip to Kabul from March 21-23, this is the most significant high-level resumption of talks between the two countries, since relations became tense due to TTP’s continued attacks inside Pakistan, using the Afghan territory.
The JCC meeting is happening after a pause of fifteen months and is expected to keep the bilateral negotiations going between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
SAPM/Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan arrived at Kabul at the head of a delegation to attend the JCC meeting. JCC meeting is being held after a long gap. pic.twitter.com/tEamwCs8UR
— Mohammad Sadiq (@AmbassadorSadiq) April 16, 2025
A delegation is accompanying Ambassador Sadiq on this visit while the Afghan side will be represented by the Deputy Defense Minister, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir.
The agenda of the meeting ranges from from border dispute talks to terror emanating from Afghanistan. During his last visit, Ambassador Sadiq met the Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and also the Acting Commerce Minister, Nooruddin Azizi.
In a briefing before the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Monday, Ambassador Sadiq told that high-level meetings are planned between the two countries in the coming days.
He was invited by the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to brief its members about the state of the relationship between Islamabad and Kabul.
Read More: High-Level Visits Planned to Rebuild Pak-Afghan Ties
“Just briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in an in-camera session on the situation in Afghanistan and the challenges facing our bilateral relations. A candid and constructive discussion on regional developments and the path ahead for Pakistan-Afghanistan relations was a great learning experience,” Sadiq said in a statement posted on X after the meeting.
Today’s meeting in Kabul is the seventh JCC meeting, with previous sessions hosted by Islamabad and Kabul alternatively.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have seen ups and downs since the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021.
Pakistan, for its part, has protested the use of Afghan soil by the banned TTP while the Taliban have expressed concerns over the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
Nuzhat Rana is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
