Pakistan said Wednesday it had no hidden agenda in Afghanistan, following top-level talks in Kabul after a NATO report accused Islamabad of secretly aiding Taliban insurgents.
“We have no hidden agenda in Afghanistan,” Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told reporters following a meeting with President Hamid Karzai.
She dismissed the NATO report, saying: “These claims have been made many, many times. Pakistan stands behind any initiative that the Afghan government takes for peace.”
The leaked report overshadowed a visit aimed at thawing frosty ties between the two neighbours, blighted by mutual accusations over Taliban insurgencies in both countries.
The report — seen by The Times newspaper and the BBC — was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to NATO commanders in Afghanistan last month, media reports said.
The “State of the Taliban” document claims that Islamabad, via Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, is “intimately involved” with the insurgency and that the Taliban assume victory is inevitable once Western troops leave in 2014.
Khar told the news conference, however, that “we consider any threat to Afghanistan’s independence and sovereignty as a threat to Pakistan’s existence.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan need to look forward to a relationship based on trust.”
Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul said “there will be no peace in the region if there is no serious regional cooperation.
“Pakistan plays a key role in Afghan peace process. I hope Ms Rabani’s visit is the beginning of a good relationship between our two countries.”
