Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to activate border management commission

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to activate a Joint Commission on Border Management to check illegal cross-border movement, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share over 2,000 km porous border and both routinely blame each other on failing to check illegal border crossing activities.

The Joint Commission would be headed by an Afghan senior deputy minister and the interior secretary from the Pakistan side, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The two sides also agreed to work closely with each other to improve visa regime for facilitation of genuine travelers from both countries.

Both sides agreed on the border management during high-level talks in Kabul on February 9, the statement said. Secretary Interior Shahid Khan held talks with General Ayoub Salangi, Afghan senior deputy interior minister, in the meeting.

During the meeting, issues pertaining to border management, visa regime, and transfer of prisoners were discussed.

Official and diplomatic sources said that both sides also discussed security for the April presidential and provincial council elections in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan would help in peaceful elections when they met in Kabul in November.