A hotline has been established to facilitate communication among the presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey “in times of crisis,” a Turkish official said on Monday. “The hotline has been operational since yesterday (Sunday),” the official said on condition of anonymity but noted that the presidents have not used it yet. “It is designed to help communication among the three capitals in times of crisis,” the official added. The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan are due to hold talks in Turkey on Tuesday (today) and Wednesday in a bid to resolve a row after Kabul claimed an attack against its spy chief was planned in Pakistan. Turkish President Abdullah Gul will host his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari and Karzai during a dinner today (Tuesday). The summit in Ankara will be the seventh in Turkey, a NATO member, since the regular consultation mechanism was established in 2007 to encourage both countries to cooperate against extremism. The assassination attempt on National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Asadullah Khalid was carried out on Thursday by an attacker who claimed to be a Taliban peace envoy but had a bomb hidden in his underwear. Afghan President Hamid Karzai did not directly blame Pakistan for the attack but said the Taliban alone would not have been able to carry out the bombing and that “bigger hands were involved”. The Foreign Ministry denied the claim and said it was ready to help investigate what it called a criminal act.
