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India-Pakistan
Gilani taken aback by Karzai's curtness
2011-11-13
[Dawn] Although Afghanistan agreed to resume trilateral dialogue with Pakistain and Iran, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
during a meeting here with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
on the sidelines of the Saarc summit called for Pakistain's meaningful cooperation in investigating the liquidation of Afghan peace jirga chief Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani
... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
.

The third trilateral summit meeting planned for October was postponed amid tension between Pakistain and Afghanistan in the wake of the liquidation of Prof Rabbani in a suicide kaboom on Sept 20.

According to a member of the Pak delegation, President Karzai adopted a rather aggressive posture at the meeting held at the Shangrila resort in Addu and "bombarded us with a number of demands laced with accusations".

His first demand was that all negotiations between the two countries would have to start from the scene of the crime where Prof Rabbani had been killed.

The Afghan president also alleged that Pakistain was not doing enough to stop cross-boarder attacks (meaning Taliban attacks) which he said reflected poorly on his government's performance in the eyes of the world.

Talking to Dawn, a federal minister said: "The meeting took place in a highly tense atmosphere as the Afghan president was not in a mood to listen to anyone."

He said: "Frankly speaking, Prime Minister Gilani was taken aback because he had expected a friendly gesture from the Afghan president."

After listening to President Karzai in his usual calm manner, the prime minister asked him to change his hostile public posture towards Pakistain -- his acrimonious statements since Prof Rabbani's killing.

Prime Minister Gilani said he had gone to Kabul to offer condolences over the death of Prof Rabbani because he understood the seriousness of the matter, but in response the Afghan government started pointing fingers at Pakistain.

"The prime minister told President Karzai that leaders from both sides had to understand each other's sensitivities and start working to find some common ground," the minister said.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said the Afghan leader had a number of reservations, but Prime Minister Gilani asked him to come up with whatever framework he had in his mind to go ahead with the grinding of the peace processor in the region.

Talking to news hounds at the villa where the meeting was held, Prime Minister Gilani said the government would support any process of political reconciliation initiated and owned by the Afghan government.

About the revival of a joint commission set up by the two countries that got derailed after Prof Rabbani's killing, he said the two chief executives had been in contact on the issue.

When asked about the strategic agreement signed by Afghanistan and India, he said the two countries had the sovereign right to reach such pacts.

When the same question was posed to President Karzai, he said Pakistain was an important country of the region and "we hope the agreement between India and Afghanistan will be beneficial to peace in the region".

He said Prof Rabbani's liquidation was a major setback for Afghanistan and he hoped Pakistain would cooperate in investigation into how and why the incident had taken place.

Prime Minister Gilani said his government was willing to offer every possible help in the investigation.
Posted by:Fred

#2  Karzai is starting to sweat his hanging.
Posted by: Skidmark   2011-11-13 09:24  

#1  "Don't you know WHO I am?"

/Yousuf "John Kerry" Gilani
Posted by: Frank G   2011-11-13 00:39  

00:00