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Afghanistan, Pakistan pursue peace despite attack
[Dawn] The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistain are determined to press ahead with peace efforts after a meeting in Turkey, the country's president said Wednesday, despite an attack that maimed the Afghan intelligence chief.

President Abdullah Gul described the bombing, which Afghanistan believes was planned in Pakistain, as an attempt to derail dialogue between the two countries.

At the end of a meeting aimed at easing tensions and increasing cooperation between the governments in Kabul and Islamabad, Gul said both had "renewed trust and are determined to work together." He was flanked by counterparts 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...
of Afghanistan and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistain.

Afghan intelligence chief Asadullah Khalid was maimed last week when a jacket wallah posing as a Taliban peace envoy detonated an explosive, dealing a setback to fragile efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan.

Karzai has said the attack was planned in Pakistain, but stopped short of directly holding Islamabad responsible for the kaboom that was claimed by the Taliban.

Karzai said Wednesday the two leaders had "very good conversations" about the liquidation attempt, but refused to go into details. Afghan officials said Karzai would present evidence to Zardari during their meetings about the attack.

"Hopefully the fight against extremism and terrorism will take itself to a conclusion where the populations of the two countries are not threatened by these attacks," Karzai said.

"The environment of dialogue is better than it has been," Karzai said. "At the same time, we are seeing unfortunate incidents of terrorism both in Afghanistan and Pakistain."

For his part, Zardari distanced his country from the attack on Khalid.

"They (terrorists) don't want us, the governments, to get together and to be able to lead the nations to peace," he said. "It is in the interest of Pakistain that Afghanistan prospers," he said. "It is in my interest that peace returns to Afghanistan and Pakistain."

A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting said a "joint working group" would address the attempt on the intelligence chief's life.

Pakistain is seen as a key player in the Afghan grinding of the peace processor. Pakistain helped the Taliban seize control of Afghanistan in the 1990s, providing funding, weapons and intelligence, and the Afghan government and the US have accused Islamabad of continuing to support the group.

Pakistain has denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!
but many analysts believe the country continues to see the Taliban as an important ally in Afghanistan to counter archenemy India.

Posted by: Fred 2012-12-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=357953