Islamabad - A meeting of Pakistani and Afghan political and
tribal leaders started on Monday against the backdrop of the recent
strategy shift by the US allies to bring peace to Afghanistan through
dialogue with the Taliban militants.
'We must not shut the doors of negotiations to those sons of the
soil willing to forsake the path of violence. With a patient ear we
must listen to them and let them be heard,' said Pakistani Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as he opened the talks in Islamabad.
Abdullah Abdullah, a former Afghan foreign minister, and Owais
Ghani, governor of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, are
leading the two 20-person-strong delegations participating in the
two-day 'jirga,' or tribal assembly).
It is a follow-up to the August 2007 grand assembly held in Kabul
which sought a conciliatory approach to tackle militant violence in
Afghanistan and the restive Pashtun regions straddling the border.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta last week confirmed
that his government recently held talks with a Taliban representative
in Saudi Arabia, but stressed that the process would only continue if
the militants renounced violence and embrace the Afghan constitution.
But the Taliban, in a statement posted on their website, said
peace talks could not take place unless the foreign troops pull out
of Afghanistan.
Qureshi said there was a growing realization that use of military
means alone could not bring the desired results in the fight against
terrorism in Afghanistan.
'The wrongs and neglects of the past must be corrected. Political,
economic and social reforms must proceed hand in hand,' he added.
According to the minister, Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to
suffer immensely from extremism, militancy and terrorism, which he
described as 'the gravest threat to both countries.'
'Pakistan and Afghanistan, therefore, need to cooperate closely to
effectively counter and completely eliminate this curse,' Qureshi
noted.
Many analysts say they expect little to come out of the Islamabad
meeting, because the Taliban are not represented.
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have seen a downward
slide in recent months in the face of cross-border raids on US-led
international troops and the Afghan army by al-Qaeda and Taliban
militants hiding in Pakistan's north-western tribal region.
A serious rift in the ties came after the July 7 suicide car
attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed at least 44 people,
including Indian Defence Attache Brigadier R Mehta and political
counselor V Venkat Rao.
Kabul and New Delhi repeatedly blamed Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence secret service for the bombing, but Islamabad denied the
accusation.
'Both Afghanistan and Pakistan need peace, both need a healing
touch ... peace will lead to prosperity,' Qureshi said in Islamabad.
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