Pakistan-Afghanistan anti-terror cooperation

akistan and Afghanistan agreed on Thursday to enhance their cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism for the sake of regional security and development.

Addressing a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi after a meeting, Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Zalmai Rasoul said that peace and security in Pakistan and Afghanistan were interlinked and they should cooperate with each other to achieve shared goals.

Dr Zalmai said his government was ready for a rapprochement with reconcilable Taliban militants to bring the nine-year-old strife to an end. “Peace talks are possible with those Taliban who have no links with Al Qaeda and renounce violence and respect the Afghan constitution,” he added.

About 1,600 delegates from across Afghanistan had at a jirga in Kabul early this month supported President Hamid Karzai’s plan to seek reconciliation with Taliban and other warring factions.

Mr Karzai had during a visit to Islamabad in March welcomed Pakistan’s offer to play a role in the reconciliation process.

In reply to a question about drone attacks, the Afghan minister said his country was opposed to any attack which killed innocent people.

Mr Qureshi said they had agreed to enhance bilateral relations in diverse fields and cooperation in border security.

The two sides reviewed security situation in the region and Afghan government’s efforts to achieve stability through reconciliation.

“Peace and security in Afghanistan are important for Pakistan and we have sincerely offered assistance, cooperation and training facilities to Afghanistan in all fields,” Mr Qureshi said.

He said Pakistan had offered training to Afghan military personnel to enable them to take over responsibility of security in their country.

He said economic cooperation could increase bilateral trade from the present $1.5 billion to $5 billion by 2015. He said Pakistan had also proposed the setting up of a commission to improve construction in Afghanistan.

The two sides agreed to develop direct road and rail links between Peshawar and Jalalabad. Mr Qureshi said the international community was ready to provide necessary funding for the projects.

Issues relating to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, Afghan-Transit Trade, Afghan refugees in Pakistan and smuggling from Afghanistan were also discussed at the meeting.

Pakistan called for early finalisation of the transit trade agreement.

The Afghan minister said that relations between the two countries were improving and called for measures to implement past agreements.

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