Afghan President, Pakistan PM vow to fight terrorism

Islamabad, Aug 8 (IANS) Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in their first telephonic contact have agreed to jointly fight terrorism, a menace that has plagued the region.

Ghani on Monday congratulated Abbasi on his election as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Dawn online cited a Prime Minister's Office statement as saying.

The last contact between the leaders of the two nations was made about two months ago when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Ghani met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Both sides at the Astana meeting had agreed to use the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) mechanism and bilateral channels to take actions against terrorist groups and evolve a mechanism to monitor such actions.

However, relationship between the two neighbouring countries remains cold as the two blame each other for terrorism in their respective nations.

The Afghan leader in his phone conversation expressed satisfaction over the smooth transition of power in Pakistan.

The brief statement, however, did not mention anything else from the Afghan side, the Dawn said.

Abbasi thanked the President and said terrorism was a common threat for both the countries.

"We will work with Afghanistan for security and stability in the region," the Prime Minister told Ghani.

He said terrorism was a common enemy and Afghanistan and Pakistan would work together to eliminate this menace from the region.

"It was agreed to work together to address the challenge of energy and improve the economic condition in Pakistan and Afghanistan," the statement said.