Pakistan PM Imran Khan meets Ghani in Kabul

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit "historic" and said it was a message that violence was not the answer to the current situation.

Kabul:Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in Kabul on Thursday to discuss the Afghanistan peace talks.

It is Khan's first visit to Afghanistan and comes at a crucial time for the country as Afghan government negotiators hold face to face talks with the Taliban in Qatar.

He said the Afghan people wanted a comprehensive ceasefire.

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Khan said that the timing of his visit assured Afghanistan that Pakistan would do everything it could to help reduce the violence.

Neither leader addressed the announcement of an accelerated U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has rattled both sides in the Afghan conflict.

Under an earlier deal between the U.S. and the Taliban that outlined a gradual pullout, the remaining U.S. forces were to leave Afghanistan by April.

The Pentagon now says some 2,500 troops will leave by January, just days before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, leaving another 2,000 or so U.S. forces in place.

AP

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