Afghan envoy meets army chief, PPP chairman.

ISLAMABAD -- With progress on the much-anticipated intra-Afghan talks again being impeded by familiar challenges, Afghanistan's envoy to Pakistan Atif Mashal on Thursday reached out to Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa for a discussion on the peace process.

'Today I met with Pakistan COAS Gen Qamar Bajwa and discussed follow up of matters arising from his recent Kabul visit, Afghan peace process, upcoming APAPPS meeting, strengthening bilateral relations and the current situation in the region,' Mr Mashal tweeted after the meeting.

Gen Bajwa had on June 9 visited Kabul for assuring the Afghan leadership about Pakistan's support for the Afghan peace process. His visit had taken place in the midst of progress towards the initiation of the intra-Afghan dialogue, which had raised hopes about the prospects of ending the 19-year-long conflict in Afghanistan.

However, lately the exchange of prisoners between Afghan government and the Taliban has once again slowed down. Kabul is still to release another about 1,250 of the agreed 5,000 insurgent fighters, while Taliban is to set free about 400 of the 1,000 captured Afghan security personnel.

Prisoner swap between the two sides has been taking place under the Doha agreement that was signed by the US and the insurgent group in February and is a prerequisite for the start of intra-Afghan talks.

Prisoner exchange between Afghan government and the Taliban has slowed down again

The release of prisoners is a major issue that has been delaying the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, which were originally scheduled for March 10. Pakistan had...