UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday that his government would initiate dialogue with all rebel groups in the country including the “good” Taliban.
Asked as to how he would determine who is good and who is bad group, Karzai said it’s easy to determine who is good and bad. Mr Karzai was speaking to reporters following a high-level meeting on Afghanistan held to assess the progress made so far in the fledgling democracy as well as key challenges still facing the war-torn nation.
He said the all inclusive reconciliation process would continue to bring about peace to the country.
On Afghanistan’s relations with Pakistan Mr Karzai said: “Relations with Pakistan were important” and pointed out that recently a joint Pak-Afghan jirga appointed a subcommittee with 25 members from each side to explore ways to coordinate efforts to improve relations.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram told reporters later that the joint Jirga would also seek to stop terrorist activities in the region.
A joint communique issued on Sunday said that the participants unequivocally condemned terrorist and other illegal activities which hindered the establishment of the rule of law.
The meeting also took note of the results of peace jirga “to bring sustainable peace to the regions including addressing the terrorist threat.”
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai co-chaired the meeting on Sunday.
Among those attended the meeting were representatives from the United
Kingdom, United States, China, France, Russian Federation, Canada, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Turkey. The Asian Development Bank, the European Union, the European Commission, Nato, and the World Bank were also invited.
