Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri is to visit Afghanistan this month for talks to strengthen ties which have been strained by recent border tensions, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
"The foreign minister is definitely visiting Afghanistan this month," foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told AFP.
"The dates are being worked out and both sides are in consultation," he said, adding that the itinerary was expected to be finalized in a couple of days.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said Kasuri's visit was in response to an invitation from Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The agency quoted Kasuri as saying that Muslim neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan enjoyed "close and brotherly relations and the visit would further cement these ties".
But he added that some "forces averse to the growing Pakistan-Afghanistan ties, were trying to reverse it."
Border tensions escalated last month after an unprecedented deployment of troops by Pakistan to its frontier region of Mohmand to block possible infiltration of suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda extremists from Afghanistan.
Afghan tribesmen resented the move, charging that Pakistani troops had set up check-posts deep inside Afghan territory. A mob later attacked the Pakistani mission in Kabul causing serious damage.
The newly established Pakistani posts along the rugged mountainous border have come under frequent fire from Afghan militia which has not been returned by the Pakistanis, officials said.
Kasuri reaffirmed Pakistan's support for the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, APP said.
He dismissed as "baseless" allegations that Pakistani troops had crossed into Afghan territory.
He said he was confident "forces inimical" to cordial Pakistan-Afghan relations would not succeed and bilateral ties would continue to move forward.
"It is in the interest of the two countries to have good brotherly relations," he added.
Meanwhile, a Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman hit back at complaints by India over statements by Pakistani officials that Indian consulates in Afghanistan were involved in acts of terrorism and subversion in Pakistan.
India's government Tuesday summoned Pakistan's acting high commissioner (ambassador) Munawwar Bhatti to the foreign ministry to protest over the "baseless comments" by Pakistani officials against Indian missions in Afghanistan.
Islamabad had angered New Delhi by saying the involvement of a "foreign hand" -- a clear reference to India -- could not be ruled out in the July 4 massacre of 48 people during an attack on a Shiite mosque in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan which borders Afghanistan.
Pakistan's interior ministry had said the opening of consulates by India in the two cities as well as in Herat was a "matter of concern for us" as no significant economic activity had been going on there.
Pakistan has also accused India of making concerted efforts to "drive a wedge" between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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