Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Recently Islamabad has been making significant efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan, including by facilitating the entry of Afghan citizens into Pakistan.

At the end of September 2020, the Pakistani government has announced a new visa policy for Afghan citizens, which involves the introduction of a multiple-visit visa mechanism (1 year).

As noted by Voice of America, earlier Islamabad issued only one-time entry visas to IRA citizens. In addition, according to the special representative of the IRP for Afghanistan M. Sadik, a system of providing long-term business (up to 5 years) and student visas (for the period of study), as well as a "new category of medical visas" that allows Afghan patients to obtain visas upon arrival at the Torkham border crossing (up to 6 months).

In this regard, as reported by the Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency, the IRP embassy in Kabul is currently issuing more than 2,000 visas a day to Afghans.

Commenting on the simplification of the RPI visa policy and drawing attention to the introduction of "new medical visas", foreign experts indicate that Pakistan is seeking to attract large numbers of Afghan medical tourists amid the dire health situation of Afghanistan. According to Reuters, there are just over 2,000 hospitals in Afghanistan that can help only 65% of the population. Moreover, for every 10 thousand people, there are 4 doctors.

What’s more, the coronavirus pandemic continues to weaken Afghanistan’s healthcare potential. In particular, more than 10% of cases of COVID-19 infection occur in medical personnel.

At the same time, with high security spending, high levels of corruption, and a difficult economic situation in the country, the government’s ability to fund the health care system is decreasing.

In general, according to experts, Pakistan is making comprehensive efforts to improve bilateral relations

and restoring the image of a "good neighbor" in order to guarantee the provision of their long-term interests in Afghanistan.