Islamabad : Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif Tuesday met Chief of General Staff of the Afghan National Army (ANA) General Sher Muhammad Karimi and commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Gen. John Campbell at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, the visiting dignitaries expressed their grief over the Peshawar school carnage in which 148 lives were lost, including 132 children, Dawn online reported.
The Afghan army chief and the ISAF commander assured their full support in the war against terrorism as well as in eliminating terrorists on Afghan soil.
In the wake of the Army Public School massacre, General Raheel had made an unscheduled visit to Kabul to share vital intelligence with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and General John Campbell.
General Raheel had sought Kabul’s help in order to extradite top Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Mullah Fazlullah who is wanted for terrorism cases in Pakistan.
He received assurances from the Afghan government and ISAF for action against a Kunar-based Taliban splinter group which is believed to be behind the Peshawar school attack.
Appreciating the recently commenced operations by Afghan forces against the TTP in areas close to the Pak-Afghan Border, General Raheel said he would extend full support to General Karimi and General Campbell in all spheres, including intelligence sharing as well as coordinated operations by both sides.
The trilateral meeting discussed the overall security situation in the region, matters relating to coordination on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and protocols placed to improve border control.
Both General Karimi and the ISAF commander acknowledged that due to the successful and non-discriminatory “Zarb-i-Azb” operation of security forces, the Pakistan Army’s operational gains were appreciable and terrorist networks had been seriously degraded.