Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai says he looks forward to reducing the recent escalation of tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan in his upcoming visit to Islamabad.

Karzai told a group of Pakistani journalists at his highly secured residence in Kabul that he would visit Pakistan after Ramzan on the invitation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

"I would love to do a peace role. I am hopeful the visit would bring some good results," the Afghan leader said, adding that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had extended invitation to him last year and that was renewed four times.

“I want to have in-depth discussions with the political and military leaders. I will talk to the military of friendship. Pakistan and Afghanistan are not enemies but twins,” he said, adding that he will travel to Pakistan as an Afghan national and not as representatives of the government.

Karzai said he was sad at the casualties on both sides during the last week’s cross-border shelling along the Chaman border. “It is unfortunate that the people in both Pakistan and Afghanistan are undergoing miseries because of war, terrorism and extremism.”

He described the recent visit of the Pakistani parliamentarians as successful that provided opportunity for both sides to have detailed discussions on key issues.

The former president also lashed out at US policies in Afghanistan and accused it of introducing the Daesh phenomena in the war-ravaged country.

“If Daesh is here in Afghanistan today, it can move to Pakistan if we did not realise the sensitivity of the situation. I am sure that Daesh is an American project for Afghanistan and this region,” he said.

“Afghanistan will not be peaceful without Pakistan’s cooperation and similarly Pakistan will not be stable unless war is ended in Afghanistan,” Karzai said.

To a question about the controversy over the border, which he described as Durand Line, the Afghan leader claimed that no government in Afghanistan will recognise the Durand Line.