Eid ul Adha 2020: PM Imran, President Ashraf Ghani exchange greetings

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Ashraf Ghani exchanged greetings on the occasion of Eid ul Adha 2020 on Monday, according to Radio Pakistan.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed the hope that the current momentum of Afghan Peace Process will be further built to implement the U.S.-Taliban Peace Agreement in its entirety leading to Intra-Afghan negotiations at the earliest,” read a post on the Radio Pakistan, stating that the two leaders spoke over the phone.

The Prime Minister highlighted positive role of Pakistan for contribution in peace efforts and stressed the need to strengthen bilateral relations.

“President Ashraf Ghani calls Prime Minister Imran Khan.The two leaders exchanged Eid greetings; discussed challenges posed by COVID-19; implementation of US-Taliban Agreement & taking Afghan Peace Process forward; and strengthening bilateral relations under APAPPS framework,” tweeted the PM’s special representative on Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq.

President Ashraf Ghani calls Prime Minister Imran Khan.The two leaders exchanged Eid greetings; discussed challenges posed by COVID-19; implementation of US-Taliban Agreement & taking Afghan Peace Process forward; and strengthening bilateral relations under APAPPS framework.

— Mohammad Sadiq (@AmbassadorSadiq) August 3, 2020

The talks between the two come at a time when the Afghanistan government and the Taliban are inching closer towards a peace deal and more fruitful intra-Afghan dialogue.

Read more:: 29 dead, more than 300 prisoners at large as Afghanistan prison gets attacked

The two leaders talked today, a few hours after at least 29 people were killed and scores of others were injured when Daesh fighters attacked a prison in Jalalabad and freed close to 300 prisoners, officials said.

More than 300 prisoners were at large, Attaullah Khugyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said. Of the 1,793 prisoners, more than 1,025 had tried to escape and been recaptured and 430 had remained inside.

“The rest are missing,” he said.

After detonating a car bomb at the entrance on Sunday evening, IS gunmen overran the prison where many IS militants captured during a campaign in the past month were being held, along with Taliban fighters and common criminals.

Mohammad Idres, one of the prisoners trapped inside and contacted by cellphone, said he could see could around four bodies on the ground outside.

“We are very hungry, it’s very hot and we don’t have water,” he told Reuters.

“Sometimes it is quiet and then firing starts,” he said. “The security forces cannot seem to advance because the attackers hold strategic points, including the watchtowers.”

IS claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a day after the Afghan intelligence agency said special forces had killed a senior IS commander near Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar.

The move by the banned militant outfit comes at a crucial time when intra-Afghanistan talks are proceeding forward after 19 years of bloodshed between the government and the Taliban.

On Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani ordered the government to free hundreds of Taliban prisoners.