TOKYO - President Hamid Karzai on Monday said that comprehensive and frank discussions were underway between Afghanistan and Pakistan on how to bring peace and stability to the neighboring nations.
Karzai, who attended a key international conference in Tokyo on Afghanistan's reconstruction and sustainable development, was fielding a volley of questions from journalists at a news briefing.
Representatives from more than 70 countries and organizations took part in the day-long gathering, with participants pledging more than $16 billion in aid to the war-torn country over the next four years.
"Our contacts with Pakistan for peace and stability have become strong," the Afghan leader said, while characterizing Islamabad's role in bringing peace to his country as crucial and unavoidable.
He said there were many factors involved in the reconciliation effort, but Pakistan's role was the most important in this regard. Pakistan could help arrange peace talks with rebels, Karzai added.
"Pakistan can help in many ways to secure peace in Afghanistan and bring Taliban leaders to the negotiating table," the president insisted.
"We are having multifaceted and candid talks with Pakistan on peace and as part of the effort, the Pakistani prime minister will be visiting Kabul and we will do plain talking," he announced.
To a question about parleys with the Taliban, Karzai said peace was possible if the rebels recognised the Afghan constitution, women's rights and shunned violence. His government through various channels had contacted the Taliban for negotiations, but there had been no direct talks, he explained.
He expressed his pleasure over first-ever meeting between Taliban and 'Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan representatives with Afghanistan High Peace Council members at a university in Tokyo two weeks ago.
A former Taliban minister, Qari Din Mohammad, represented the group at talks with the peace council officials. Karzai said it was a good development and called for the continuation of such meetings.
However, the Taliban have rejected the claims that their representative had met Afghan government officials in Tokyo.
On Afghan prisoners at the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba, Karzai said they had no problem if the inmates were transferred to Qatar or Afghanistan and reunited with their families. He said they would support such a move.
With regard to Taliban's unwillingness for talks after all foreign troops are withdrawn, the president said security transition had been underway. Foreign troops would leave the country by the end of 2014 and Afghans would take over the overall responsibility for security, he added.
Strategic agreements that Afghanistan has signed with a number of countries, including the US, allowed foreign troops to stay for a short period in Afghanistan after the 2014 deadline in line with Afghan conditions and demands, he said.
The presence of foreign troops in Afghan villages had been a reason behind civilian casualties, Karzai noted, saying they had been asking NATO-led soldiers to leave villages and remain confined to their bases, a process that has already been set in motion.
Happy with the outcome of Sunday's conference, Karzai praised the international community for promising more than $16 billion in aid and said the Afghan people and government were thankful to Japan. (Pajhwok)