Lavrov in Pakistan to discuss Afghan peace

ISLAMABAD: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday in the first visit to Pakistan by a Moscow diplomat in nearly a decade as the cold-war rivals warm up to each other about the peace process in neighbouring Afghanistan. Lavrov was set to discuss “prospects of transition in Afghanistan aimed at giving the Taliban insurgents a chance to join the country’s political mainstream’’, an official said. The Russian diplomat would hold talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, military and intelligence leaders and his counterpart, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Bilateral cooperation including in security and defence, counter-terrorism and the Afghan peace process would be on he agenda, the statement added. — dpa