PM Abbasi to visit Afghanistan on April 6: Foreign Office

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will visit Afghanistan for a one-day visit on April 6, foreign office spokesperson informed on Sunday.

The premier would be visiting Kabul on an invitation of the Afghan President Dr Ashraf Ghani. During his visit to the neighboring country, Abbasi is scheduled to meet senior Afghan political leadership.

The foreign office also informed that the prime minister will be in China on April 8 on a three-day official visit.

Earlier, on February 28, the Afghan president had said that Kabul was ready for talks with Pakistan, adding that the country wants to forget the past and start a new chapter. Calling on Pakistan to hold government-to-government talks, Ghani had said the best place to hold peace talks was Kabul. 

The aim of Abbasi's meeting is to find a settlement to the decades-long conflict in Afghanistan.

'Peace in Taliban's hands'

In a message to the Taliban, the Afghan president had earlier said peace is in their hands. Ghani called on the group to accept peace and come together to save the country.

He had said the peace process and a ceasefire must be agreed upon and that Taliban must be declared a political group. 

Ghani had laid out several olive branches to the Taliban in his speech, saying the government will provide facilities and security to those who join the peace process, work on freeing prisoners, provide passports for Taliban members and their families and will issue visas, open an office for them in Kabul and work to remove sanctions against Taliban leaders.