President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday held a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, reaffirming Pakistan’s unabated support towards the stability, peace and socio-economic development of Afghanistan.
President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Zardari recalled his meeting with the Afghan president in Chicago in May and said he looked forward to the visit of his Afghan counterpart to Pakistan later this year to attend a quadrilateral summit.
The president underlined the importance of close interaction between the two countries at the leadership level to deal with common challenges.
Zardari said Pakistan had been participating in the Istanbul Process meetings and it would also attend the Kabul Ministerial Conference on June 14.
He expressed the hope that the schedule of the summit, which was being worked out through diplomatic channels, would be finalized soon. The president said Pakistan looked forward to the visit of new High Peace Council Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani to Pakistan in the near future.
He said Pakistan firmly believed that permanent peace and stability could only be ensured following an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation process.
Zardari added that Pakistan sincerely wanted to help the Afghan brothers and facilitate them in all possible manners in their journey towards socio-economic development and progress. He said Pakistan was in favor of strong Afghan National Security Forces and announced an amount of $20 million to support the ANSF.
The president said Pakistan was also prepared to consider any additional requirement to be indicated by the Afghan side for the purpose of strengthening and capacity building of its security forces.
Karzai thanked Zardari for the support Pakistan had been extending towards peace, stability and development of Afghanistan.
