Pakistan NSA cancels visit to Afghanistan due to protests by Afghans

Islamabad – Pakistan’s National Security Advisor (NSA), Moeed Yusuf, had to cancel his scheduled visit to Afghanistan, which was supposed to happen on Tuesday. The Pakistani agencies informed that the visit has been postponed due to bad weather in Afghanistan. However, the visit was cancelled due to the intense protests by Afghan people in Kabul against Pakistan.

Last week, the Pakistan government agencies announced a two-day visit of their NSA Moeed Yusuf to Afghanistan mainly to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan with the Taliban leaders. However, as per the Pakistan media, this visit of the Pakistani NSA was planned due to escalated tensions on the Durand Line between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Moeed Yusuf was scheduled to reach Kabul on Tuesday. Still, the Pakistan government sources informed that the visit was cancelled at the last moment due to bad weather conditions in Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan media have published an entirely different version.

Protests are being held in the Afghan capital of Kabul from Tuesday morning against Pakistan. Hundreds of Afghan people participated in the protests. As per the Afghan media, Pakistan cancelled the visit of their NSA on receiving the information that protests would intensify after Yusuf reached Afghanistan.

Journalists in Pakistan scoffed at the reasons presented by the Imran Khan government for the cancellation of Moeed’s visit. Sarcastic questions were posed by the Pakistani journalists to their government asking if bad weather in Afghanistan is a bad political atmosphere for Pakistan? Was the visit cancelled due to this? Some of the journalists also raised a doubt questioning if the Taliban had cancelled the visit of the Pakistani NSA due to ongoing tensions on the Durand Line?’

Some of the Pakistani journalists pointed to the situation that unfolded after the visit of the then ISI chief Faiz Hameed to Afghanistan. The Pakistani journalists also pointed out that Moeed Yusuf had planned to visit Afghanistan without involving military chief General Qamar Bajwa.