Pakistan urges unity in terror fight

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday accused governments of doing a “terrible job” at working together to tackle militancy in Afghanistan as she called for a more unified approach.
Khar made the remarks on the sidelines of a ministerial conference in Kabul aimed at building greater regional cooperation on Afghanistan and its future beyond the pullout of NATO forces in 2014.
She reiterated Pakistan’s stance that it has suffered enormously as a result of terrorism, and said a more united front was needed among international allies. “We have been making the claim that we need to all work together to ensure that we win against them rather than they win against us,” she told reporters. “At this point in time, if there is a policy of divide and rule they are doing a great job at it and we are doing a terrible job at combining our energy, our forces, our resources to be able to face them as one.” In response to remarks by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta that the US was running out of patience over Islamabad’s refusal to do more to eliminate safe havens for militants, Khar said that she was “glad we are not losing patience with anyone, despite losing 24 soldiers”. She was referring to NATO air strikes on a Pakistani border post in November which killed 24 troops and led to Islamabad closing the ground routes through its territory used to supply coalition forces in Afghanistan.
KARZAI: Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for greater international cooperation to stabilise his war-torn country and defeat militants. He also called on Pakistan directly to support nascent efforts to end the 10-year war in Afghanistan. Karzai said the help of neighbouring countries and international powers was vital to economic growth and peace in his impoverished country.
Representatives from 29 countries gathered in Kabul for the day-long conference, just weeks after NATO agreed at a summit in Chicago to stick to plans to withdraw the bulk of 130,000 foreign combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The conflict in Syria is also expected to feature prominently in meetings between foreign ministers, including those from Britain and Russia.
Karzai also sought to reassure neighbours, Iran in particular, that strategic partnership deals signed by Kabul with several Western powers, particularly the United States, to govern relations beyond 2014, would not damage ties. But Iran, a sworn enemy of the United States that welcomes NATO’s departure from its eastern border, alluded to the Kabul-Washington pact by saying it adds to security concerns among Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the deal and efforts to establish foreign military bases in Afghanistan ran counter to peace efforts and “could turn this country once again into scene of security rivalries”.
Karzai is keen to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, but the militants publicly refuse to talk to his government. Earlier this year, the militant group also announced that it had pulled the plug on nascent contacts with the Americans in Qatar.
Karzai said the head of the Afghan High Peace Council would soon visit Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, but gave no dates, and urged Islamabad to support peace efforts. Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan have been clouded by mutual blame for Islamist violence plaguing both countries. The next talks on Afghanistan will be in Tokyo next month and will focus on ways to ensure social progress — governance, economic prospects, health and education.