It is really great to hear the news that the neighboring countries of Afghanistan are in some way or the other interested in helping the country out of trouble. On Monday, August 1, 2011, the foreign minister of Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar and the foreign minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski, in a joint statement, declared their interest in striving for peace in the region and assisting Afghanistan in the reconciliation process. Pakistan, every now and then, has been assuring Afghanistan of complete co-operation regarding support for reconciliation process.

In another piece of news the Afghan Information and Culture Ministry is reported to be visiting India for talks regarding the Memorandum of Understanding on Information and Broadcasting sectors. In discussions with Union Information Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Raghu Menon, the Indian interest regarding the support in areas of capacity development, technical expertise in carrying on infrastructural projects in the broadcasting sectors and training for journalists at IIMC, has become evident. India has been able to make considerable development in the field of media and journalism and has been assisting Afghanistan in that regard to a great extent. This particular meeting is another step in the same regard.

At the mean while there is a piece of news regarding the business between Afghanistan and Iran – another neighboring country. Iran's Ambassador to Kabul Fada Hossein Maleki has disclosed that the volume of Islamic Republic of Iran's annual export has risen to almost $1.3 billion from earlier volume of $300. The items that are exported from Iran are mostly the food items and other items which are basically of household utilization. Iran has been interested in having strong business terms with Afghanistan and it has been participating in many other fields in the country as well. Some of the major ones include mining, irrigation and building of dams.

Definitely, the participation of the neighboring countries in development of Afghanistan is a good sign. But it is necessary that these participations must not be temporary, rather they should be long-lasting and must be further extended to strategic ties. Furthermore, the neighboring countries must not only keep in consideration their national interest while dealing with the inter-regional interaction, rather they should see the larger picture. The threats that are faced by the region can only be countered through proper co-operation among the neighboring countries.