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| India-Pakistan | ||
| Pakistan tells UK it backs Afghan peace | ||
| 2013-07-01 | ||
David Cameron's two-day visit to Afghanistan and Pakistan was part of a Western push to end a 12-year Taleban insurgency after recent efforts to start peace talks collapsed in ignominy over the manner in which the militants opened an office in Qatar on June 18. The West considers Pakistani support vital to any peace deal in Afghanistan although relations between Kabul and Islamabad are traditionally mired in distrust.
'We hope that the UK will continue these efforts to seek sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan,' said new Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after meeting Cameron. He echoed Karzai's position that any peace process should be 'Afghan-owned and Afghan-led'. Karzai is hostile to any contacts with the Taleban that sidestep his administration in Kabul. 'I have assured Prime Minister Cameron of our firm resolve to promote the shared objective of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, to which the three million Afghan refugees currently living in Pakistan can return with honour and dignity,' said Sharif. Cameron said he welcomed Sharif's remarks about the 'vital importance of the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan'. 'I profoundly believe that a stable, prosperous, peaceful, democratic Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest, just as a strong, stable, peaceful, prosperous and democratic Pakistan is in Afghanistan's interest, and I know that you and President Karzai will work together towards those ends,' Cameron said. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |