Pak says Afghanistan has offered third-party verification of terror attacks

The Pakistan Government has informed the country's Senate that it has received an offer from Afghanistan for third-party verification to confirm that its soil was not being used to launch terror attacks inside Pakistan.

Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Lt. Gen. (Retired) Abdul Qadir Baloch disclosed while giving policy statement on five foreign policy-related questions raised by Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani. The Express Tribune quoted him, as saying that the offer was made by Kabul to a Pakistan parliamentary delegation that was on a visit to Kabul.

The delegation led by the National Assembly speaker, besides meeting their Afghan counterparts, had marathon meeting of six hours with President Ashraf Ghani and three hours-long meetings each with Afghan Chief Executive Abudullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai, he said.

Trust deficit between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been a long-standing issue. Both sides routinely trade allegations of use of other side's soil by terrorist groups.

The minister, however, did not say anything about Pakistan's response to the Afghan offer, nor any of the Senate members tried to seek further details.