KabulIslamabad relations'never better': Pak minister

(MENAFN- Arab News) WASHINGTON: Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have never been better a top Pakistani minister said Thursday adding there had also been 'a quantum leap in trust' between Islamabad and Washington.

'I think Afghanistan and Pakistan working in close hands and in close cooperation it will do wonders for the cooperation in the field of counterterrorism' Pakistani Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said as he met with top US diplomat John Kerry.

'Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have never been better and that is a very very positive development.'

Khan was attending a threeday White House summit on ways to battle violent extremist groups.

Kerry also praised what he called 'an unprecedented level of effort to try to produce cooperation' between the two neighbors which he said was producing 'some signs of real results.'

Ties between Washington and Islamabad hit a low point in recent years after the 2011 killing of AlQaeda leader Osama Bin Laden shot dead during a US special forces operation in the Pakistani military garrison town of Abbottabad.

But both countries have worked to improve relations and Kerry visited Islamabad in January as the two nations vowed to step up cooperation to track down militants in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

'Over the last few months and I think due to the efforts of Secretary Kerry and the administration there has been a huge quantum leap in the level of confidence in the level of trust and in the level of cooperation' Khan said.