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Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif (4th from left) with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (right)
Photo: MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS/HANDOUT/EPA
Dozens of people have recently died in terrorist attacks in Pakistan - the government in Islamabad has therefore now sought talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif traveled to Kabul for this purpose.
According to a statement by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, both sides have agreed to jointly counter the growing terror in the region.
The Taliban in Afghanistan, who have been back in power in the country since August 2021, confirmed a meeting with the Pakistani Defense Minister, according to the dpa news agency.
It was said that economic relations were also discussed.
There have been an increasing number of attacks in Pakistan since the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) declared the end of the ceasefire with the government in Islamabad at the end of last year.
The Pakistani Taliban are independent of the Islamist Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the border with Afghanistan in particular is struggling with a very tense security situation.
According to the authorities, the TTP is also responsible for a particularly devastating suicide attack in January in the provincial capital of Peshawar, which killed 84 people.
Northwest Pakistan, which also includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is considered a stronghold of the TTP.
kko/dpa
