Afghan neighbors try to tackle issues together

[June 14, 2012]  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghanistan's neighbors and regional heavyweights met in Kabul on Thursday to do something they rarely do -- try to tackle common threats and problems together.

With NATO's combat mission ending in 2014, the region's countries are being called on to help stabilize Afghanistan by joining forces to resolve regional problems such as extremism, drug-trafficking, poor coordination on economic issues and, most importantly, terrorism. Any cooperation, however, is bound to share the stage with longtime neighborhood rivalries, the ongoing war in Afghanistan and a fragile effort to reach a peace accord with the Taliban.

In opening the one-day conference, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the head of the government-appointed peace council will travel soon to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to seek the two nation's continued help in talking peace with the Taliban in hopes of ending decades of war.

Karzai said that successful peace discussions with the Taliban are one of the most important elements in attaining harmony in the region. The Afghan leader, who has pushed neighboring Pakistan to do more to help further the peace process, thanked Saudi Arabia for the help it has given in trying to find a political resolution to the war.

"We also very much hope that our brothers and sisters in Pakistan will do same," Karzai said.

The Taliban have been willing in the past to hold discussions with the United States, but have rejected talks with the Afghan government, although Karzai insists that Taliban leaders have spoken with his government in private. The Taliban have announced their intent to open an office in Qatar. Karzai has backed that plan, but has been pushing Saudi Arabia as a venue for any possible talks.

Karzai said that Salahuddin Rabbani, the head of the high peace council, would visit Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the near future. Rabbani is the son of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was killed in September 2011 by a suicide bomber who was posing as a peace emissary from the Taliban.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan stood ready to assist with the peace process, but that Afghanistan's various factions need to reach a consensus about a political resolution to the war. Only then, can it be supported by Afghanistan's neighbors, she said.

Pakistan has been accused of providing militants sanctuary on its soil and aiding insurgents who attack Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been pushing Islamabad to help lure Taliban leaders, who are believed to be holed up or under arrest in Pakistan, to the negotiating table.

Pakistan has been under pressure from the United States too. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a recent visit to Kabul that the U.S. was losing patience with Pakistan and wants it to do more to go after the Taliban, especially the al-Qaida-affiliated Haqqani network.

"While there are formidable challenges ahead, we must not be consumed by negativity," Khar said.

She said Pakistan was committed to fighting for peace.

"This is a matter of Pakistan's core national interest," Khar said. "We in Pakistan know that we cannot grow, that we cannot progress and we cannot live peacefully if our neighbors, particularly and especially our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, are not growing, are not progressing and are not living peacefully."

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi boasted of Iran's financial contributions to Afghanistan and expressed support for regional cooperation, especially on drug-trafficking, but also used his speech as a chance to take a jab at the U.S.-led military coalition.

"Unfortunately the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan during the past 10 years has yielded further deteriorating of security, growth and entrenchment of terrorist activities, a surge in narcotic drug production and trafficking, increase in organized crime, the massacre of civilians and destruction of cities and villages," the top Iranian diplomat said.

He said Iran welcomed the planned withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014 and the decision of some countries to pull out even earlier. Without mentioning the U.S., he said "a particular country" intends to prolong its military presence in Afghanistan in "pursuit of its extra regional objectives." It was clear he was referring to the United States, which plans to keep some troops in Afghanistan after 2014 to train Afghan forces and battle terrorism.

"This certainly adds to the security concerns of Afghanistan's neighboring countries," he said, adding that the presence of U.S. troops beyond 2014 could turn Afghanistan "once again into a scene of security rivalries."

Thursday's gathering in Kabul is the second meeting of the so-called "Heart of Asia" countries. The first was held in November in Istanbul.

The participants include: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. Representatives of 15 mostly Western countries and a dozen regional and international organizations are also attending.

[Associated Press; By DEB RIECHMANN]

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