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Kabul wants closer relations with Pakistan: Minister

Nirupama Subramanian

Afghanistan not to allow activities against Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said on Friday that his Government would never allow a third country to carry out anti-Pakistan activities from its soil.

"That is a commitment my Government gives to the people of Pakistan," Mr. Spanta said with the Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri here after their meeting here.

He was responding to a question on Pakistani allegations of covert Indian support to anti-Pakistan elements from Afghanistan.

Mr. Spanta is on his first visit to Pakistan, following an invitation from Mr. Kasuri when they met at the Organisation of Islamic Countries Foreign Ministers conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. He also met President Pervez Musharraf.

His visit comes after Kabul and Islamabad traded charges over the worsening situation in southern Afghanistan. The Hamid Karzai Government has accused Pakistan of allowing and helping the Taliban to launch attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan has denied the allegations but said Afghanistan was allowing its territory to be used by India to provide assistance to the Balochistan insurgency.

The Afghanistan Foreign Minister said his Government had friendly relations with both countries. He hoped the "disturbances and tense relations" between Islamabad and New Delhi would not affect his country's ties with Pakistan.

Mr. Kasuri said Pakistan had a "special" relationship with Afghanistan owing to a shared culture, ethnicity, religion and "other common roots".

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