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ISLAMABAD: Frustrated with Kabul for not ‘reciprocating’ its desire to mend ties, Islamabad on Friday said allegations by the Afghan leadership reflected their non-seriousness about improving bilateral relationship.
“Can we overextend our arm without it being reciprocated? No country which is serious about improving ties with another country will continue to make recriminatory comments against that country,” Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said at a press conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
The German foreign minister was in Pakistan to invite Khar to a conference in Bonn next month where about 100 countries would discuss Afghanistan’s future.
“As far as better relations with Afghanistan are concerned, it takes two to tango. Pakistani leadership has in the most responsible terms possible reached out to the Afghan leadership in ways and means which are beyond may be diplomatic and political norms,” Khar said.
Her comments followed a meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of Saarc summit last week, which according to media accounts did not go well.
Earlier, Turkey had also helped to ease tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan by hosting a trilateral summit, with President Asif Ali Zardari and Mr Karzai heading their delegations.
Despite an understanding on joint investigation of the murder of peace council chief Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Istanbul summit apparently could not achieve its desired goal.
Ties between Islamabad and Kabul, which saw a marked improvement over the past few months, dramatically deteriorated after Prof Rabbani’s assassination, which was blamed on militants based in Pakistan.
Ms Khar denied Pakistan had any hidden agenda for Afghanistan and said it only had legitimate concerns as a neighbour.
“Pakistan has no interest in Afghanistan beyond that of any neighbour in having a peaceful and stable dispensation in Afghanistan. We want a stable peaceful government in Afghanistan which allows us to function peacefully in a stable environment, an environment in which we can achieve or in which we can convert many opportunities for the benefit of our people.”
She said: “We have no hidden agenda in the pursuit of peace and stability. Pakistan seeks peace and stability within the region and within Afghanistan for its own reasons”.Foreign Minister Westerwelle welcomed Ms Khar’s statement that there was ‘no hidden agenda’.
“We all know that Pakistan is playing a very important role for the better future of Afghanistan,” he said.
President Zardari in his meeting with Mr Westerwelle said that Pakistan had an abiding interest in peace and stability in Afghanistan and wished that the upcoming Bonn conference on Afghanistan was successful.
The visiting foreign minister also called on Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.
