Karzai urges Pak for resumption of NATO supplies

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged Pakistan to resume Nato supplies and charge increased levy, as it would benefit both Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was talking to senior journalists over the breakfast gathering here in Islamabad on Friday.

Responding to questions about talks between the US and Taliban and role of Afghan government, he said we are aware of US-Taliban contacts but we would decide where to hold Afghan-Taliban talks.

Karzai stressed that the Taliban can open office in Qatar but Kabul will hold talks in Turkey or Saudi Arabia with them.

To another question regarding Indian influence in Afghanistan, Karzai said Pakistan does not need to worry about it as Pakistan and India are already engaged in trade agreements.

Hamid Karzai admitted that the Afghanistan army was being trained by the Indian army. However, he said Afghanistan has no objection if Pakistan Army train the Afghan soldiers and his government was considering the option, but trust deficit between the two countries is a hurdle.

The Afghan leader said Pakistan has to play key role in talks with Taliban and sought Pakistani assistance for negotiations. He emphasized that the United States could not talk with the insurgents on behalf of Afghanistan, he added.

Talking on closure of supplies to Nato, Karzai called for restoration of the supplies adding it will benefit both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Replying a question, Afghan President said he has no objection over the Afghan Army's training in Pakistan but the two sides lack mutual trust over the matter.

Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan vow to jointly counter terrorism

President Asif Ali Zardari Friday said Pakistan along with Afghanistan and Iran was committed to jointly work to rid the region of the “menace” of terrorism.Addressing a joint press conference with the Presidents of Afghanistan and Iran here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, at the end of the third trilateral summit, President Zardari said only joint efforts could help the region overcome terrorism, which he believed was being fuelled by billions of dollars of drug trade.

Karzai assured of help on peace

ISLAMABAD - Welcoming the presidents of Afghanistan and Iran, Pakistani leadership Thursday expressed its hope that trilateral summit would lead to enhanced cooperation for peace, security, stability and economic development in the region.

The third round of trilateral summit being hosted by Pakistan comes at a critical juncture when Afghan government has begun peace talks with Taliban and tensions between Iran and Israel are at their peak. Pakistan believes that the trilateral mechanism that began in 2009 is important for it as it provides a platform for discussing and resolving the issues pertaining to border management and cooperation against terrorism, transnational organised crime and drug trafficking.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew to Islamabad on Thursday for summit meeting, scheduled for today (Friday) at Aiwan-i-Sadr, to be concluded with joint press conference by presidents of three countries.

Shortly after arrival the leaders of Afghanistan and Iran held separate delegation-level talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and discussed bilateral relations.

Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani received the visiting dignitaries one after another upon their arrival at Aiwan-i-Sadr.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai who arrived first held a one-on-one meeting with President Zardari that was followed by delegation-level interaction.

The two presidents discussed a range of issues of bilateral and regional concern including situation in Afghanistan, developmental projects in the region, Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement, drug trafficking and border issues.

President Zardari reiterated commitment to work together with President Karzai for further enhancing bilateral interaction and evolving an institutional approach to deal with the common challenges facing the two countries and underlined the need for the two countries to stay together at this critical juncture and avoid being distracted by ‘momentary events’.

Zardari said that Pakistan was pursuing a consistent policy to strengthen Pak-Afghan bilateral relations in all spheres as Afghanistan was at the heart of the region with a pivotal role to play in regional economic development.

The president said that Pakistan has always desired a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan as it was in Pakistan’s own national interest and assured continued support to every effort aimed at restoring peace and stability. He reiterated Pakistan’s principled stand of supporting an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process of reconciliation and peace in the country.

The two presidents agreed upon the need to resolve all the issues and remove bottlenecks if any, in the way of Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement.

President Zardari underlined the need for working together to extend Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement to the Central Asian countries, which, he said was a doable project and would not only benefit the people of the region but also generate huge economic activity in Afghanistan.

He urged that the two sides should accord priority to all the energy related projects to meet growing energy needs and expedite process of development. The president also emphasised the early implementation of CASA-1000 project, TAPI and other infrastructure projects.

President Zardari said that Prof Rabbani was a friend of Pakistan and an honest and serious interlocutor and he termed his assassination the work of those elements who do not want peace in Afghanistan. He assured that Pakistan will continue to extend full cooperation to Afghan government’s investigation in the assassination and noted that a Pakistani team recently visited Kabul in this regard.

Afghan president also held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Gilani at PM’s House and both sides agreed on the need to strengthen mutual cooperation to overcome the common challenges of terrorism and extremism and expressed their resolve to work for the stability and peace of both the countries.

Both sides reviewed the current developments in and around the region relating to peace and stability. They also discussed bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and commerce, infrastructure development, regional transit trade and cross border movement.

The prime minister said that Pakistan supported any Afghan-led and Afghan-owned pace process in Afghanistan because peace, prosperity and independence of Afghanistan is in the best national interest of Pakistan.

The prime minister said that Pakistan would continue to extend full cooperation to Afghan government in the investigation of the assassination of Prof Rabbani.

The Afghan president expressed his deep sense of gratitude to the government of Pakistan for the assistance in the investigations of the assassination.

Karzai termed Pakistan’s support as critical to the success of Afghan peace process and the reconciliation in the country. He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan were twin brothers and therefore should cooperate in the same spirit for the cause of peace and stability in both countries.

Meanwhile, Iranian President after arrival also held separate meetings with President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani.

President Zardari while talking to his Iranian counterpart called for evolving institutional mechanism to enhance bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Iran for promoting peace, stability and economic progress of the peoples of the region in general and of the two countries in particular.

Both the presidents discussed issues including rail and road links between the two countries, energy projects, the early realisation of IP gas pipeline, and other projects of regional connectivity.

President Zardari reiterated commitment for expeditious implementation of Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project, 1000 MW electricity transmission line and 100 MW Gwadar power supply in order to meet the country’s growing demand for energy and power.

President Zardari said that the trilateral summit provided a useful forum for coordination on Afghanistan and expressed optimism about the positive outcome of the summit. He also thanked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government’s efforts for attending the important summit.

The Iranian president thanked President Zardari and Pakistan’s government for the warm welcome and appreciated the role Pakistan was playing in promotion of regional stability and peace and for its keen interest in further strengthening existing cordial equation with Iran.

Ahmadinejad said Pakistan was an important neighbour for Iran and assured continued support and assistance of his government in all sectors.

Later, bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran were discussed during meeting between the Iranian president and Prime Minister Gilani at the PM House.

Both sides agreed to pursue the energy projects including electricity and gas on fast-track basis. They also discussed the status of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline as well.

The Iranian president said that his country was ready to enhance trade with Pakistan up to $10 billion within a couple of months. Both leaders also decided to improve the border management to facilitate transportation of goods.

Both sides showed their willingness to open a new border point at Gabd and Reemdan between the two countries along the coastal highway of Pakistan.

The Iranian side also indicated its keen interest to import one million tonnes of wheat and 200,000 tonnes of quality rice from Pakistan within weeks.

The Pakistani side was apprised of the progress made in connection with opening of the office of Pakistan Consulate General at Bandar Abbas to facilitate trade and travel.

The prime minister also extended his deep sense of gratitude to the Iranian leader on his country’s provision of electricity to Gawadar area. He said that the import of electricity from Iran would partially alleviate the electricity deficiency in the country.

President Zardari in the evening hosted a dinner reception in the honour of visiting Afghan and Iranian leaders, which was attended by Prime Minister Gilani, Services Chiefs federal ministers and diplomats.

Pakistan will not help US attack on Iran: Zardari

SLAMABAD: Pakistan has assured Iran that in case of a US , Islamabad will not provide any assistance to US forces, Geo News reported.

During the trilateral summit, President Zardari said that Pakistan would not provide the US with airbases to launch an attack on Iran.

The President emphasized that both Pakistan and Iran needed each other and no foreign pressure could hinder their ties.

President Zardari also sent a message to the US to not tell Pakistan who it can and cannot trade with. This was in reference to the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project.