Amid planned protest, Yusuf scraps Kabul visit

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Amid a planned anti-Pakistan protest in Kabul, the national security adviser (NSA) has quietly scrapped his trip to Afghanistan.

Dr. Moeed Yusuf was scheduled to arrive in Kabul on Tuesday at the head of a high-level delegation for talks on humanitarian aid for the Afghans and other issues of bilateral importance.

However, the NSA had to cancel his two-day visit as a massive protest against Pakistan was planned at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

A well-placed diplomatic source confided to Pajhwok Afghan News Yusuf decided against visiting Afghanistan’s capital to escape a certain embarrassment.

Hundreds of Afghans carrying anti-Pakistan banners marched near the airport to protest what they called Pakistan’s two-faced policy, the source said.

He claimed tensions were rising between the neighbours over fencing of the British-era Durand Line, which Kabul does not recognise as a formal international border.

Meanwhile, a Kabul-based social media user wrote that the Taliban had detained human rights activist Azim Azimi for organising the anti-Pakistan demonstration.

On the other hand, Pakistan officials say the NSA’s visit had been postponed due to bad weather. They dismissed the impression that there are differences between the Taliban and Islamabad.

“We have been in contact with Kabul both on Durand Line fencing and the presence of Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan,” one official said, denying rifts between the two sides.

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