Turkey to mediate between Pakistan, Afghanistan

Islamabad, Apr 16: Turkey will host talks between the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan later this month in a bid to reduce the growing political tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

The Turkish initiative, which appears to have been encouraged by the US, will bring together President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai for talks in Ankara on April 29-30, Dawn newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.

Both presidents will fly to the Turkish capital on April 29 and hold talks in the presence of top Turkish leadership, sources said, not ruling out the possibility of a separate one-on-one session between Gen Musharraf and Karzai afterwards.

Tensions between the two neighbours heightened early last year after Kabul began accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to curb cross-border infiltrations by Taliban operatives.

President Musharraf often said the problem [of Taliban] lies in Afghanistan and had to be dealt with by Kabul.

The situation, however, compounded further after the US and NATO officials also expressed concerns about regrouping of insurgent Taliban in Pakistani tribal areas with preparations to launch an offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan.

UNI