Afghan president in Lahore to wrap up Pakistan visit

KARACHI, Pakistan

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wrapped up his two-day visit to Pakistan on Friday amid hopes of progress in an otherwise sluggish peace process aimed at ending a lingering conflict in the war-ravaged country.

Ghani spent his second day in Lahore -- the country’s cultural hub and known as the heart of Pakistan -- in a less diplomatic fashion, a move many view as a reflection of melting the ice between the two neighbors, which have long been locked in a series of disputes in recent years.

The visiting president was received by Chief Minister of Punjab, Usman Bazdar at the Allama Iqbal Airport in Lahore.

Together with his cabinet members, businessmen and other members of his delegation, Ghani visited the 17th-century Badshahi Mosque and Shahi Fort in the city.

He then addressed the members of Pakistan Business Forum and called for improving the shrinking trade volume between Islamabad and Kabul.

He also met with Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, state-run Pakistan Television reported.

“Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to the cultural capital of Pakistan, Lahore will have (a) significant impact on qualitative transformation of Pak-Afghan ties. We welcome the Afghan President to Lahore to set a new path for regional peace and prosperity. Long live Pak-Afghan brotherhood,” Sarwar said in a tweet.

They offered Friday prayers at the Governor House mosque.

Earlier, during his stay in capital Islamabad, the Afghan president met with four key opposition leaders -- three-time Chief Minister of Punjab and opposition leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, Chairman center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Jamat-e-Islami chief Siraj ul Haq and chief of Jamiat Ulema Islam Maulana Fazl ur Rehman.

Ties between Islamabad and Kabul have remained frosty in recent decades with both accusing each other of patronizing militants.

Pakistan had brokered the landmark first round of direct talks between the fragile Afghan government, and the Taliban in Islamabad in July 2015, but the process broke down after Taliban announced the death of their long-term leader Mullah Omer triggering a bitter power struggle within the militia.

The Chance for a resumption of the stalled process went further dim following the death of Omer’s successor, Mullah Mansur, in a U.S. drone strike last year on Pakistan’s side near the Afghan border.

Since then, several attempts to resume the stalled peace process have been made by a four-nation group comprised of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the U.S. and China.

Until now, however, these attempts have failed to bear fruit except for several rounds of Islamabad-sponsored direct talks between the U.S and the Taliban.

Taliban have opened new battle fronts across the war-torn nation in recent months as Afghan security forces -- suffering casualties and desertions -- struggle to beat back a revitalized insurgency.