Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s weekend visit to Kabul marked a major breakthrough on bilateral trade and other political issues. However, Afghan sources said Sunday that questions related to security still require a long -term obligation to navigate this uneven path.

The sources told The Express Pakinomist that Dar’s trip to Afghanistan on Saturday had multi-faceted approaches to a number of questions, including facilitating diplomatic tensions, trade improvements, refugee recovery and the cross-border movements in Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Foreign Minister Dar himself accepted that the two sides have a sour relationship between the two fraternal nations,” said a source close to the Pak-Afghan ties. “Mistust, trade deficit, the return of Afghan refugees and a guilt game over cross -border attacks annoyed Kabul,” the source added.

However, several analysts believed that DAR was successful on a diplomatic front as the ice melts between the countries through the high -level meeting aimed at solving problems. “On his own finances, Dar knew how to win, and he showed his abilities and played his cards well,” an analyst said.

In the economic and trade sector, an Afghan Ministry of Commerce’s official Express Pakinomist Peshawar said that Pakistan would eliminate 14-16 categories of additional tariffs on the Afghan transit products.

“This will result in the removal of 10% taxes on 867 types of products, and transit products will again benefit from the exceptions as before,” he said. In addition, the 2% transit tax on container-cruising (CSS), which was imposed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Afghan containers, would be reduced to 1%. “

Another concession for the Afghan dealers was the replacement of “bank guarantees” with “insurance guarantees”, which would facilitate procedures and lower financial burdens, “the official said, adding:” I personally do not understand the difference between a bank guarantee and an insurance guarantee. “

Other advantages include limiting the degradation of Afghan goods in the Karachi port, delivery of concessions on load and handling, container exchange privileges and exceptions from extra tasks – all of which were considered incentives to the Afghan side.

According to the sources, Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Agreement (APTA) would be completed and implemented by June 30. At the bilateral engagements, the two parties agreed to form two committees for political and trade to meet at regular intervals.

During the negotiations, the Afghan side recorded its complaints about the repatriation of the Afghan refugees. They were annoyed at the arrests of refugees and “erroneous” of the deportation process of Islamabad, according to Afghan officials.

However, Islamabad Kabul assured that none of the Afghan refugees would be forced to leave their real estate without selling it and that they would have permission to take their valuables with them, “they added.

At the same time, Islamabad made it clear that some misunderstandings should not use this easing for smuggling, so a system of control and balance would be in place for screening the departure refugees, the source continued.

The Afghan side raised the concerns that “miscreans” should not enter Afghanistan in the form of recurring refugees. On it, the Pakistani delegation assured that Kabul’s concerns would be treated accordingly. “Dar assured that Islamabad will never allow the use of his land against Afghanistan.”

On TTP and drug related to security, according to security analysts and experts, a long-term commitment seemed to be missing when Haqqani network manager Siraj Uddin Haqqani did not attend any meeting with the Pakistani delegation. The sources felt that Pakistan without Haqqani’s commitment would not see any pace in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or in Balochistan.

The sources of pointing out that Pakistan and Afghanistan had already formed the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), where a report on TTP and other security issues was presented last month, adding that a serious result could be expected when Haqqani was part of the decision making.

Both sides depict that DAR’s visit was successful on trade, diplomatic and financial grounds, hoping that its positive impact would be visible in June. Kabul still sees refugees issuing a thorn in bilateral ties, while Islamabad was facing an uphill to achieve breakthroughs on TTP and other security issues.

“If Islamabad has not felt any changes on security reasons, we will fear that any attack from the entire border from Islamabad can wash away the whole endeavor,” said a source from the Afghan capital The Express Pakinomist.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar undertook the ice-breaking visit almost two months after both the countries came close to a potential all-out war over a spate triggered by Afghanistan’s construction of a new post, on the Torkham border, which Pakistan assessed a violation of its sovereignty.

The Torkham border was only reopened after careful conversations broken by traditional Jirga. Once the border was reopened, the two sides began to talk to each other behind closed doors, not only to avoid repeated closure of the border, but also found ways to remove stumble blocks in the relationship.

The primary obstacle remains the use of Afghan soil at the forbidden TTP and its affiliated companies against Pakistan. What adds the complexity of the problem was that TTP employed more and more Afghan citizens for terrorist attacks.

Some of the Afghans involved in terrorist attacks were close relatives of Afghan Taliban leaders. Pakistan told the Afghan government that without solving the TTP problem, there would be little room for cooperation.

Under behind the scene’s discussions, the Taliban government admitted that TTP was a problem and sought time to tackle Pakistan’s concerns. Islamabad, in turn, showed some flexibility and informed the Taliban government to at least take steps that prevent TTP from attacking Pakistan.

Previously, Pakistan demanded action against TTP as well as arrest of their leaders. However, an official of Islamabad The Express Pakinomist said that Pakistan now asked the Taliban to take steps without resorting to the use of force or arrests to prevent TTP from using the Afghan Earth.

The official said the Taliban agreed, and during a meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) informed the Pakistani side of the steps.

An official revealed that the Taliban government arrested several Afghan citizens for their potential commitment to terrorist activities in Pakistan. “It’s an ongoing job,” noted an official who believes the Afghan Taliban also wanted to tackle the question of TTP.

During the ice -breaking visit of Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Kabul on Saturday, the Afghan temporary Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Akhund assured him that Afghanistan would not allow its land to be used against his neighbors, including Pakistan.

The public statement from a senior Taliban leader was intended to tackle Pakistan’s concerns. In return for the Taliban government’s fresh insurance policies, Pakistan removed some of the restrictions imposed on the Afghan transit trade.

When he returned from the daily visit, Dar called his visit as a precursor to a “new chapter” in the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“It’s definitely a good start. Two months ago it was a war, but all these fears have given way to new optimism,” commented a senior Pakistani official who was interested in development.