BRUSSELS: Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s army chief and a foreign ministry official held “productive” talks yesterday on easing tensions between the neighbouring states, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted the meeting, said.
Kerry cautioned, however, that any results of the Brussels talks would have to be measured in improving relations as Nato winds down its Afghanistan mission.
“We had a very extensive and ... a very productive and constructive dialogue ... But we have all agreed that results are what will tell the story, not statements at a press conference,” Kerry told reporters, without disclosing any details of what was discussed.
Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue a peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keeping Afghanistan unstable until foreign combat forces leave at the end of 2014.
Kerry hosted the meeting between Karzai and Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and senior Foreign Ministry bureaucrat Jalil Jilani, with the aim of calming tensions over border disputes and the stalled peace process.
“I think that everybody here agreed today that we will continue a very specific dialogue on both the political track as well as the security track,” Kerry, flanked by Karzai and Kayani, said after more than three hours of talks.
“We have a commitment to do that in the interests of Afghanistan, Pakistan and peace in the region.”
Kerry told reporters at the start of the meeting that Afghanistan was in “a critical transformational period”.
Reuters
