Pakistan has assured support for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan as delegations from the two nations held the first review session of a bilateral engagement framework to improve cooperation in different fields.

Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Idrees Zaman led their respective multi-agency delegations in the meeting.

The Foreign Secretary during the meeting reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to further deepen close brotherly relations with Afghanistan based on mutual trust to the benefit of the two peoples.

"The Pakistan side reiterated its commitment to a peaceful, stable, united and prosperous Afghanistan, at peace within and at peace with its neighbours," the Foreign Office said.

"Pakistan also emphasised that durable peace and stability could be achieved only through an inclusive, Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process."

It was agreed that the APAPPS was the best forum to overcome common challenges and to take bilateral relations to the next level and it was emphasized to optimally utilise this mechanism.

The APAPPS was established in May 2018 to provide a comprehensive and structured framework for institutional engagement in diverse areas of bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The framework comprises five Working Groups focused on Politico-Diplomatic, Military-to-Military Coordination, Intelligence Cooperation, Economy and Refugee Issues.

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