Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Pakistan to repair ties - latimes

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Pakistan on Friday for a two-day visit aimed at mending the countries’ strained ties and reviving chances for peace talks with Taliban insurgents.

hani’s first state visit to Pakistan since taking office in September follows trips to China and Saudi Arabia in what Afghan diplomats have described as a multilateral effort to raise pressure on the Taliban to end 13 years of fighting.

The road to peace negotiations almost certainly winds through Pakistan, whose ungoverned northern tribal areas are a sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban. Under former President Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan regularly accused Pakistan’s security establishment of supporting the Taliban leadership based on the other side of the countries’ porous, 1,600-mile border.

Pakistan in turn has accused Afghanistan of failing to police the border and allowing in insurgents who seek to overthrow the government in Islamabad. The relationship has further soured over Afghanistan’s refusal to recognize the Durand Line, the 19th century British-drawn boundary, as the countries’ official border.   Read More