Against the backdrop of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, the two-day trilateral summit of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan will start here today (Thursday) with an aim to restore peace and stability to war-torn Afghanistan, but the high-level talks are unlikely to produce any tangible results. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will participate in the trilateral summit being hosted by their Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari. The foreign ministers of the three states will finalise the agenda of the summit in their talks today (Thursday) whereas the presidents will meet tomorrow (Friday).
The focus of the meeting, which is being held at Tehran’s initiative in the Pakistani capital, will be on the latest situation in Afghanistan and counter-terrorism cooperation. All the three states will discuss ways to bring peace and normalcy back to Afghanistan through increased regional cooperation. “This conference is being held in the backdrop of US efforts to reach out directly to the Taliban insurgents for peace talks, something not welcomed by both Tehran and Kabul. Tehran feels that it is being left out as the solution to the decades-long Afghan problem is being looked into given its mounting tensions with Washington, whereas Kabul complains that US authorities have also not taken it into confidence before initiating peace talks with the Taliban,” said a diplomatic source requesting anonymity. He said although Pakistan had been taken into confidence by the US over talks with the Taliban, still it felt that for lasting peace in Afghanistan, the regional forums must also be utilised and that was the spirit with which it was hosting the trilateral summit. However, he expressed his doubts about the success of the trilateral talks, saying that because of Pakistan being in the US camp, there was also some bad blood between Islamabad and Tehran and because of that expecting any breakthrough from the talks would be naïve.