DHAKA: Pakistan`s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visits Kabul on Saturday on a trip that aims to push forward the Afghan government`s stalled talks with the Taliban and spur joint economic projects that could ease Pakistan`s chronic electricity crisis.

Mr. Sharif`s trip—his first to neighboring Afghanistan since taking office in June—comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai is embroiled in a deepening crisis with the U.S., refusing to sign promptly a security agreement that would allow for some American troops to remain in Afghanistan after next year.

The Pakistani prime minister, who seeks to reassert civilian control over his nation`s foreign and security policies, has made the improvement of relations with Mr. Karzai`s government a top priority, tempering the Pakistani security establishment`s long-term support for the Afghan Taliban insurgency. "Peace and stability in Afghanistan are in Pakistan`s vital interest," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Friday, reports Wall Street Journal.

Nawaz Sharif, center, at dinner for retiring Army chief, in a government photo. Press Information Department / European Pressphoto Agency

Pakistani and Afghan officials will also discuss a plan to bring electricity from Central Asia through Afghanistan to alleviate Pakistan`s power shortages.

With most or all U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan next year, Islamabad is particularly concerned that Pakistan`s own militants could exploit chaos across the border to intensify their war against the Pakistani state.

"Sharif understands the value, and has reasonable clarity on how to achieve [stability in Afghanistan,] when others continue to view Karzai as not the best partner," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a former adviser to Pakistan`s Foreign Ministry. "Pakistan must not react to what seem to be provocations from Afghanistan. The relationship is much further along than most people give it credit."

Afghan officials view Pakistan, where most Afghan Taliban leaders are based, as holding the key to initiating peace talks with the insurgency. The Taliban have refused to negotiate with Mr. Karzai, dismissing him as an American "puppet." The Afghan officials say they believe that Pakistan has the capacity to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

In a radio interview this week, Mr. Karzai described both the U.S. and Pakistan as "obstacles to peace" with the Taliban insurgency.

A senior Afghan official said that Kabul is particularly angered by the continuing thwarting of Mr. Karzai`s attempts to open contacts with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban`s former second-in-command who was arrested by a joint Pakistani and Central Intelligence Agency operation in Karachi in 2010. Messrs. Karzai and Baradar belong to the same Popolzai Pashtun sub-clan, and Mr. Karzai said this week he will discuss the Baradar case during Mr. Sharif`s visit on Saturday.

Following an agreement between Messrs. Sharif and Karzai at a summit in England in October, a delegation of senior Afghan peace negotiators recently traveled to Karachi to meet with Mr. Baradar, an encounter that Kabul believed could breathe new life into the peace process.

However, to their dismay, the Afghan negotiators found Mr. Baradar heavily sedated and "not in a position to talk," a senior Afghan official said. The Taliban leader remained in Pakistani custody, even though he was released from prison in September at Kabul`s request. Pakistani officials told the Afghan negotiators that Mr. Baradar`s freedom is being limited because of a U.S. request, the senior Afghan official said.

Laura Lucas Magnuson, a White House spokeswoman, didn`t directly address the Afghan complaints, but said that the U.S. supports "efforts to further Afghan-led reconciliation" and encourages "consultations between the Afghan and Pakistani governments in support of reconciliation efforts."

Some U.S. officials have privately expressed concern that Mr. Baradar could return to the insurgency if he were freed, as happened with other Taliban commanders released by Islamabad in the past. They are also skeptical that peace talks can begin before a successor to Mr. Karzai is picked in elections slated for April.

As a gesture to Kabul, Islamabad freed several mid-ranking Afghan Taliban detainees in recent days. The Afghan government sees such releases as a way to encourage the insurgents to join peace negotiations.

Mr. Karzai`s dispute with the U.S. intensified ahead of Mr. Sharif`s arrival, following a U.S. airstrike that mistakenly killed an Afghan child. Mr. Karzai said he won`t sign the security deal with the U.S. as long as such killings continue.

U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, commander of the U.S.-led coalition, late Thursday called Mr. Karzai to apologize for the airstrike, which targeted a midlevel Taliban commander in Helmand province.

In addition to peace talks, Pakistan and Afghanistan will also discuss the plan to bring electricity from Central Asia to alleviate Pakistan`s power shortages.

Pakistani cities suffer rolling blackouts of 12 hours or more, a crisis that has crippled the country`s industry and stunted economic growth. Kabul enjoys far more regular electricity thanks to power lines that stretch from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The so-called "CASA-1000" project that Messrs. Sharif and Karzai plan to discuss Saturday would extend and expand those lines to carry all the way into Pakistan the surplus electricity produced in the summer by hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The World Bank is the lead donor of the $1 billion project, which has already secured most of the funding, and could be operational in 2016.

"While Afghanistan has historically been a center of trade and transit, this time it`s a demonstration project," said Bob Saum, the World Bank country director for Afghanistan. "It will demonstrate the role Afghanistan can play as a regional partner and as a source for investment, and will provide much needed energy to the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan."

Pakistan would receive some 1,300 megawatts of electricity a year, partially offsetting its power shortage, while Afghanistan would be able to draw around 300 mw and levy around $15 million in transit fees annually, under the plan.

Another, more ambitious, energy project that Messrs. Sharif and Karzai plan to discuss Saturday would build a pipeline to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Pakistan and to India. Pakistan suffers from a severe natural gas shortage.

BDST: 1118 HRS, NOV 30, 2013