Afghan-Pakistan peace commission upgraded

KABUL commission would be established to promote peace and stability in the region, President Hamid Karzai announced on Saturday.

A brainchild of Islamabad, the commission would include the Pakistani prime minister, army chief and the Inter-Services Intelligence director-general, Karzai said.

Addressing a joint news conference with Pakistani Premier Yusuf Raza Gilani, he said High Peace Council head Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani would be part of the body. 

Afghanistan would lend all-out support to the commission’s efforts at bringing stability to the region, the president promised, without naming other Afghan members of the panel.

Kabul frequently claims opponents of the Afghan government are trained and equipped in the neighbouring country. It also accuses ISI of aiding the militants, an allegation rejected by Islamabad.

At a meeting with the president, Gilani called for shaping a political settlement that was “home-based, durable and sustainable.” He evinced Pakistan’s interest in work with Afghanistan at military, intelligence and political levels.

During his second trip to Kabul in four months, he held talks with Karzai on a wide range of issues, including bilateral relations, regional security, terrorism and cross-border militant infiltration.

He was received at the Kabul International Airport by Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, Pakistan’s Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq and other senior officials.

Scheduled to meet Prof. Rabbani, the visiting leader is accompanied by Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Inter-Services Intelligence chief Shuja Pasha.

The security transition process needed to be owned and led by Afghans, Gilani told journalists at the Chaklala Air Base in Islamabad before arriving in Kabul. Pakistan desired a stable, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan, he said.

In response to a query, the premier said that the entire Pakistani nation, including military leadership, and all other stakeholders were on the same page on the Afghan issue.

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