Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
visiting Kabul on Saturday said that his country respects the Afghan people's decision on signing the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) after a Loya Jirga voted to approve the accord last week.
Sharif, who arrived Kabul on Saturday morning for his first trip to Afghanistan, spoke in a joint news conference with Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai.
... 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
Pashtunface 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...
"Afghanistan is an independent country and the BSA signing is up to the country," Sharif said. "We respect the decision of Afghanistan's people."
His comments come as the world watches Karzai's next move, following the President's controversial announcement that he we disregard the Jirga's recommendation to sign the accord promptly and would hold-off on it until the April elections. He has said he will only sign the BSA if the U.S. meets three new preconditions he has laid out.
Sharif on Saturday said that Afghanistan would face many challenges in 2014 and it was important for the security transition process with NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
troops leaving the and political transition with the April elections to be orchestrated peacefully.
President Karzai on Saturday stressed the role the U.S. and Pakistain needed to play in helping Afghanistan achieve peace.
"Pakistain and United States can make the Afghan grinding of the peace processor succeed and both countries should help us in peace negotiations," Karzai said.
Sharif, meanwhile, reconfirmed Pakistain's dedication to the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
"Pakistain will continue its efforts in the Afghan grinding of the peace processor and regional countries also will help Afghanistan in this regard," Sharif said. "A stable Afghanistan is in the interests of Pakistain's security."
Despite the trip and rhetoric, though, Afghan political parties and experts have expressed skepticism about Islamabad's honest commitment to peace in Afghanistan.
"This is the media policy of Pakistain, not the real policy," Afghan military expert Jawid Kohestani said.
It was also announced on Saturday that Sharif would meet with Afghan political parties and Presidential candidates.
On Saturday, just as Sharif arrived in Kabul, there were reports of missiles being fired from Pakistain into Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
. No casualties have been reported yet, but if accurate, the onslaught would not be the first time this year that there has been a flare up over the volatile border.