Islamabad: National Security Adviser Mr. Sartaj Aziz is to visit Afghanistan on Fridayamid strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad, state media reported today.

Besides attending the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) summit, the Advisor is said to be working to help improve relationsbetween the two neighboring countries which have been soured following a spate of militant attacks in Kabul, which the Afghan intelligence sources blamed on Pakistan.

Meanwhile, officials at the Afghan Presidential Palace said that Afghanistan has provided solid evidence to the Pakistani government clearly proving that insurgent networks are functioning in the country, which according to Afghan officials is the fundamental cause of tension with Islamabad as the existence of insurgent groups, especially the Haqqani Network in Pakistan are involved in these attacks.

“The remarks of Mr. Aziz are the same as the past remarks of Pakistani officials, which they have said over the past decade,” President Ashraf Ghani’s Deputy Spokesman Sayed Zafar Hashemi said, after Aziz said that the Haqqani bases have been eliminated in Pakistan.

Recently, the US National Security Advisor, Susan Elizabeth Rice, during a visit to Islamabad had called on Pakistan to stop terrorist networks from carrying out attacks on Afghanistan from within their borders.

Meanwhile, analysts stress the need for trilateral efforts by United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan to eradicate terrorism in the region.