TEHRAN (AFP) – A delayed summit hosted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts will now go ahead in Tehran on Sunday, diplomatic sources said.
The sources confirmed the participation of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai in the summit, which will discuss the rebuilding of war-shattered Afghanistan.
The meeting had been expected to go ahead on May 19 but was postponed due to the heavy programme of Zardari.
Iran's ambassador to Islamabad, Mashallah Shakeri, was quoted Friday on the website of Iranian state-run television as saying Zardari would arrive in Tehran on Saturday to take part in the following day's summit.
His comments were confirmed in Islamabad by Pakistani foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit.
"President Zardari is going to Iran. He will attend the summit in Tehran on May 24," Basit said.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Tehran, Mohammad Yahya Ma'aroufi, Friday confirmed Karzai's participation.
"President Hamid Karzai will arrive in Tehran on Sunday May 24 to take part in the meeting," the ambassador told AFP.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said that the summit would be held in Tehran at "the beginning of the coming week," without specifying the day. Saturday is the beginning of the week in Iran.
The Tehran talks are expected to discuss efforts to rebuild Iran's eastern neighbour which is battling a resurgent Taliban insurgency and also to explore ways to rein in the rising violence in Pakistan.
Ahmadinejad, Karzai and Zardari met less than three months ago in the Iranian capital Tehran for a regional economic summit, along with leaders of other neighbouring states.
That summit pledged to help rebuild Afghanistan, and also the Gaza Strip after Israel's devastating offensive at the turn of the year.
The administration of US President Barack Obama has been working towards engaging Tehran in efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
Iran had also attended a US-backed international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague on March 31.
Engaging Iran is part of Obama's strategy to secure the help of all Afghanistan's neighbours in reconstructing the Muslim country.
Iran has not had diplomatic relations with the US for nearly three decades, and was included in former president George W. Bush's so-called "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Iraq.
Despite their rivalry, Washington and Tehran are both sworn enemies of the Taliban, a extremist Sunni Muslim militia initially backed by Pakistan, that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Shiite Iran, which has close ethnic and religious ties with Afghanistan, has long suffered from the effects of opium production in its eastern neighbour, with easily available heroin fuelling a big rise in drug use at home.
Afghanistan is the source of 90 percent of the world's heroin.
- Pakistani troops battle Taliban in Swat Afghanistan News.Net
Pakistani troops have begun street battles with entrenched Taliban forces in Mingora, the main town in northwestern Swat district, an army spokesman said Saturday.
- Gilani warns of Taliban retaliation across Pakistan Afghanistan News.Net
The gruesome car bombing in Peshawar Friday was not entirely unexpected and the Taliban could attempt to stage more such attacks in retaliation to the military operations being conducted against them in Pakistan's restive northwest, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said here Saturday.
- Next 12 to 18 months in Afghanistan, Pakistan critical says U.S. military Afghanistan News.Net
The next 12 to 18 months are critical to the success of the new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, a senior military official said Friday.
- Troops kill 60 militants in Afghanistan Afghanistan News.Net
Kabul, (Xinhua) Sixty Taliban militants have been killed in clashes with the Afghan and US-led coalition troops in southern Helmand province, officials said Saturday.
- Mullen pays tribute to families of fallen soldiers Afghanistan News.Net
There’s no responsibility in the military community more important than caring for families who have lost loved ones to war, the chairman of the Joint U.S. Chiefs of Staff said at National Harbor, Maryland, Friday.
- Afghan floods kill 250 people Afghanistan News.Net
... people have died in flash floods in different parts of Afghanistan, a media report said Saturday.
- Car bomb, clashes kill 30 people in Pakistan Afghanistan News.Net
At least 30 people died in the ongoing military offensive against the Taliban in northwest Pakistan and an explosion outside a cinema Friday that is believed to be in retaliation to the army operation.
- Afghan Spring Dangerous Season For U.S. Forces NPR
2009 · In an ongoing military operation in southern Helmand Province, U.S. Special Forces have killed at least 14 Taliban fighters and destroyed tons of heroin and processing...
- Few in Kandahar aware of Afghanistan CTV
The Canadian Press - Many residents of Kandahar appear to know nothing about the country's key upcoming national elections. That's the conclusion of an informal survey today...
- Iran fully backs Afghan government IRNA
Irna – Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that the government of President Hamid Karzai should be supported.
- Taliban driven from road but still in hills Boston Herald
D AGAR, Pakistan — Army trucks rumbled through a destroyed market a few miles down the road, passing a charred gas station where a Taliban suicide bomber killed four soldiers a few weeks ago...
- Germany to boost Afghan military aid IRNA
... million euros for rebuilding the Afghan army amid the deteriorating security situation in the war-stricken country, the weekly Focus news...
- Two NATO soldiers, 60 Taliban killed in Afghanistan - Summary
0 comments:
Post a Comment