A second senior government official also confirmed the talks, adding: “The meeting is to set a base for full-scale dialogue.”
The first official said Pakistan’s demands from Afghanistan “remain unchanged”, urging Kabul to “take verifiable action” against extremists and “end any support for the group”.
It also wants to “ensure that Afghan territory is not used as a base for launching attacks against Pakistan”.
“CALM AND RESTRAINT”
Pakistan is one of China’s closest partners in the region and Beijing has called for “calm and restraint” in Islamabad’s conflict with Afghanistan.
The meeting is the first significant engagement after earlier mediation efforts facilitated by Qatar and Turkey failed to achieve a lasting ceasefire, prompting Islamabad to launch a major military operation that included airstrikes deep inside Afghanistan.
The conflict intensified on February 26, a few days after Pakistani airstrikes, followed by a ground offensive by Afghan forces.
Both sides announced a truce for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
Islamabad said the truce has since ended but no major attacks have been reported.
The truce came two days after a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital, which the Afghan authorities said killed more than 400 people.
Islamabad maintains that its bombing was a precision strike against “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
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