A top Pakistani official on Thursday held a meeting with Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, Muhammad Nabi Omari, in Kabul and shared with him findings of a March 26 suicide attack in northwest Pakistan that killed five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, the Pakistani foreign office said.

The five Chinese workers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his car into their vehicle while they were on their way to the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

Islamabad blamed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the attack in KP’s Besham city and Pakistan’s interior minister and counter-terrorism chief last week said the bombing was coordinated by TTP members from Afghanistan, demanding Kabul to arrest and hand over the suspects involved in the deadly attack to Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s care-taker government has denied it was in any way responsible.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s interior secretary, Muhammad Khurram Agha, traveled to Kabul on the special directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and held a detailed meeting with the Afghan interior deputy interior minister, according to the Pakistani foreign office.

“The Secretary Interior shared the findings of the Government of Pakistan into the Besham attack and sought Afghanistan’s assistance in apprehending the perpetrators,” the foreign office said in a statement. “The Afghan side also agreed to examine the findings of the investigation and expressed the resolve to work with the Pakistan side to take the investigation to its logical conclusion.”

The March 26 assault was the third major one in a little over a week on the Chinese interests in Pakistan.

It followed a Mar. 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a March. 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.

The Pakistani foreign office said the Afghan side reiterated its commitment to prevent the use of their soil for any militant activity against other countries, including Pakistan. “The two sides agreed to remain engaged to confront the threat posed by terrorism to regional countries and to address the concerns raised by Pakistan,” it added.

Meanwhile, the deputy interior minister spoke about the good intentions of the Islamic Emirate and said that, while Afghanistan wants peace for itself, it also has good wishes for others. He further added that “We do not believe in “evil” politics.

“Our intentions and actions are to promote peace in the region for the benefit of ourselves and everyone,” said Omari.

Omari termed the “Bisham terrorist attack” as a tragic incident and said that, all of us should take responsibility for the security of our areas and instead of diverting issues, we should facilitate in real cooperation.

“The Islamic Emirate is committed to not allowing others to use its territory against anyone and we wish the same from others,” added Omari.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its western regions that border Afghanistan, particularly after the TTP called off its months-long, fragile truce with the Pakistani government in November 2022.

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi in a meeting with Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has demanded the revocation of the suspension of Afghanistan’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The ministry’s spokesman Abdulsalam Javad Akhundzadeh said that both sides also discussed supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, increasing exports and providing facilities for women entrepreneurs.

IEA’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, said that trade and transit are a humanitarian matter and should not be related to political issues.

Mujahid stated that the IEA has increased its efforts to expand economic and trade relations.

“Yes, we want Afghanistan to regain its membership and it is a need. Trade is a humanitarian issue and it should not be tied to political matters,” he added.

According to economic experts, regaining membership in the WTO would be effective in expanding Afghanistan’s trade with various Asian and European countries and others such as the USA, and it will also increase work opportunities.

Afghanistan officially became the 164th member of the WTO in December 2015, but currently does not have a representative in this organization.

WTO is an international organization that regulates global trade rules and settles disputes between members.

The main objective of this organization is to create facilities for the export and import of goods and services between the member countries by removing the barriers of customs tariffs.

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation of Afghanistan (MoRR) reported the forced expulsion of nearly a thousand Afghan refugees from Pakistan on Wednesday.

The ministry announced Thursday that 979 Afghan migrants returned after being expelled from Pakistan.

The deportees returned on May 29 through the Spin Boldak border and the Torghundi border.

Based on information from the Torghundi border customs office in Nangarhar province, 115 families, comprising 647 individuals, entered the country through this checkpoint.

Additionally, 62 families, consisting of 332 individuals continue to enter the country through the Spin Boldak crossing.