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Afghan-Pakistan peace meeting starts without Pakistan's MusharrafAug 09 2007, 12:10 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - More than 600 Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders convened under a large tent amid tight security in Kabul on August 9 to discuss rising border violence that has destabilized both countries. However, the effectiveness of the meeting has already been questioned because Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out at the last moment, and tribal elders from the Pakistani side the of border region are boycotting the event. Musharraf told his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai that "engagements" in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, prevented him from attending, and sent Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his place. Officials in Islamabad on August 9 said the government may impose a state of emergency because of security threats, citing a deteriorating law and order situation in the volatile northwest near the Afghan border. Afghan officials had shrugged off Musharraf's decision not to attend, saying that tribal leaders - the ground-level power-brokers in the restive border region - would still attend the meeting, held in the same white tent where the country's post-Taliban constitution was hammered out in 2004. Karzai and Aziz addressed the gathering of officials, clerics and tribal elders. The main focus of the 650 delegates - 350 from Afghanistan and about 300 from Pakistan - will be security and terrorism, but they will also talk about economic development and fighting drugs. Taliban representatives are not involved. The absence of Musharraf, Pakistan's army chief and most powerful figure, and delegates from Pakistan's restive South and North Waziristan regions has cast doubt on its ability to find solutions. The idea of the jirga emerged from a September 2006 meeting in Washington between U.S. President George W. Bush, Karzai and Musharraf that focused on ways to combat rising border violence. The Taliban, ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, have stepped up attacks in the past two years. The violence has killed thousands, raising fears for Afghanistan's fledgling democracy. U.S. and Afghan officials say Taliban militants enjoy a safe haven in Pakistani border regions, particularly Waziristan, where Washington also fears al-Qaida is regrouping. Pakistan says it has some 90,000 troops battling militants in the region, and that it is not a terrorist haven. |
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NEWS BRIEFS
Gazprom's natural gas supplies to Greece restored after pipeline explosionAug 09, 14:47 Serbia army reservists block key road demanding back pay for Kosovo warAug 09, 14:45 WWII mine discovered in Ukraine's Black Sea port as U.S. Navy ship visitsAug 09, 14:15 Iraqi oil minister says no special deals for RussiaAug 09, 14:06 Estonia issues arrest warrant for Russian citizen who called for government overthrowAug 09, 14:00 Polish prosecutors analyze tapes of alleged anti-Semitic comments by priestAug 09, 13:58 Military training jet crashes in Russia, 2 pilots bail out safelyAug 09, 12:12 Afghan-Pakistan peace meeting starts without Pakistan's MusharrafAug 09, 12:10 Russian general accuses Georgia of concocting Russian air intrusonAug 09, 12:08 Korean groups to pull out of Afghanistan, ambassador saysAug 09, 12:04 |
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